The Government have been accused of failing to put an end to work from home culture, as figures show an increasing number of Whitehall civil servants are working from home.
Official data shows that average occupancy across all government ministries fell from 75% in March to 72% in June.
Twelve departments reported a drop in office attendance, while only five saw an increase, according to the Daily Mail.
The decline comes after Cabinet Office minister John Glen bluntly told civil servants earlier this year that they are “still working from home too much.”
He emphasised that remote working should be “the exception and not the rule” and urged staff to return to the office.
“I can’t believe I have to make this point, but we are not in lockdown anymore, and we should all be spending more time working together in the office,” he added.
The biggest decline in occupancy was at the Cabinet Office, which fell from 98% to 83%.
Conservative MP Alex Burghat said it was “astounding” to see Government departments continuing to operate with “increasing numbers of empty desks”.
He told the Daily Mail: “The last Conservative government had clear plans to ensure civil servants were in the office – because face-to-face collaboration delivers better outcomes for the public and better value for money.”
Occupancy at the Department for Transport fell 19% from 74% to 61%, while the Department for Culture fell from 71% to 62%.
It comes as, staff at Angela Rayner's Ministry of Housing also began a strike calling for the right to work from home.
Over 1,180 Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members in the Ministry for Housing will strike in September over office closures, recruitment strategy and attendance policies by the department.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “Office closures do nothing to serve the department's goal of tackling regional inequalities. Ministers will see staff speak with their feet when they return from recess. Senior management have been clear: they will not seek to resolve this dispute without ministerial direction. Angela Rayner talks the talk regarding workers’ rights, she must now walk the walk and intervene to resolve this dispute.”
The Government has insisted that office attendance rates have increased across most departments in the last year.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “We are relentlessly focused on delivering on the country's priorities through our Plan for Change.
“Office attendance rates have increased across the majority of government departments in the past year, with over two-thirds of departments showing higher average attendance compared to the previous year.
“Just like in the private sector, people will tend to go on leave aligned to the school holidays and bank holidays, which this quarter covers.”
