Yes, Minister: 40-hours for £120,000

One of the country's most senior Whitehall mandarins has negotiated a ground-breaking £120,000 contract which allows him to spend more time at home with his daughter, instead of working the traditional 12-hour day.

Suma Chakrabarti, who will become Britain's first Asian permanent secretary when he takes up the post with the Department for International Development next month, has agreed with Clare Short, his Secretary of State, that he will work no more than a 40-hour week.

The 42-year-old Whitehall civil servant will have breakfast with his sixyearold daughter, Maya, at home in Oxford, before starting work at 9.30am in Westminster. He will then leave at about 5.30pm, so that he sees her before bedtime. In an unusual deal for such a senior official, he will also work from home on every other Friday, so that he can attend morning assembly at her school. The move goes completely against the Whitehall-tradition, portrayed in the character Sir Humphrey Appleby in the TV programme Yes, Minister, which sees permanent secretaries often working 12 to 14-hour days.

It may cause some unease within other departments where senior officials are expected to put in long hours, briefing ministers, reading through enormous amounts of paperwork and keeping track of developments. However, it fits in with the Government's ambition to promote more flexible, child-friendly working hours.

Tony Blair took paternity leave when his son Leo was born, and there are modernisation plans for the House of Commons which would see an end to late-night sittings.

Mr Chakrabarti also wants to promote flexible working hours within his own department, where staff are often under pressure dealing with humanitarian crises. He is to issue new guidance for his staff, promoting job sharing and career breaks.

In an interview with The Times, he said the hours he will work are "part of the understanding of my new job. The Secretary of State is happy with that so we will give it a go".

Mr Chakrabarti, who was educated at the City of London School for Boys on a scholarship from Ilea, London's former education authority, is keen to ensure a better balance between work and family life for civil servants.

He would also like to see staff from ethnic minorities being given promotion, as at present only 2.4 per cent of senior civil service posts go to these staff. The Indian-born civil servant said he had encountered racism in the form of remarks. "They are minor things such as 'Oh, you speak very good English' but they are condescending and patronising," he said today.

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