Freedom of information response

1. Work from home/remotely in a hybrid form (i.e. dividing their time between office and remote/home working)?

The Working Smarter policy allows employees to split their time between attending a workplace environment and working remotely subject to services needed, therefore this data is not recorded as it is managed individually by each service and direct line manager.

2. Work from home permanently (i.e. work from home for the majority of their contractual hours)?

No one on home base contracts. Some staff have Disability Passports or Carer’s Passports where they have an agreement to WFH the majority of their time due to these adjustments. There is no record of numbers as this is on a case-by-case basis.

3. Have been granted permission to work from abroad firstly, permanently (i.e. work from abroad for the majority of their contractual hours) and secondly, in a hybrid form (i.e. dividing their time between office and remote/home working abroad)? Please list the countries where they work from. If possible - particularly if the above numbers are low - please specify what departments they work in. 

Fewer than 5 employees worked abroad in 2021/22. Fewer than 5 employees worked hybrid abroad in 2022/23 and 2023/24 – returned to UK full time Jan 24  

4. The council employed? In other words, what were the total numbers of all full-time staff employed by the council for 2023/2023 and 2021 (broken down per year)?

 2021 - 1665

2022 - 1670

2023 – 1663

We are unable to provide an exact number for question 3 above as: 

• There is a low number involved. 

• The release of this information could identify individuals which would constitute their personal data under the Data Protection Act  

• There is no prior expectation on the part of these individuals that their personal information would be published in the wider public domain under the FOI Act 

• Personal data of any other person is exempt under section 40 (2) of the Data Protection Act. 

However, in the interests of transparency we are able to provide this information to you categorised as fewer than 5 to give you an indication of the figures.