What are we doing…

What has Government committed to?

16 departments across Whitehall have signed up to an ambition to positively change 50% of central Government travel in London for a seven week period from 21 July to 9 September. This includes staff commuting, business travel and deliveries/collections.

Why a 50 per cent change?

The extent of travel changes needed varies across the network, and will also vary by day and time. We want to make sure we’re going above and beyond, so 50 per cent positive change seemed a stretching but achievable target.

What are you asking staff to do?

Operation StepChange is an initiative that seeks to reduce our travel footprint by asking staff to consider alternative working and commuting arrangements. This is a trial in order to test our plans for the Olympics in the summer. More than a dozen Departments across Whitehall are taking part from 6-10 February.

We are asking staff to try out flexible ways of working and travelling, specifically to re-route, re-time or re-mode and to reduce their journeys by, for example, making better use of tele-conferencing, using an office nearer where they live, or working remotely where appropriate.

Which departments are taking part in Operation StepChange?

The following departments are taking part in Operation StepChange:

• Department for Transport
• Department for Media, Culture and Sport
• Ministry of Justice
• Department for Work and Pensions
• Ministry of Defence
• Business, Innovation and Skills
• Home Office
• Department of Health
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Defra
• Cabinet Office
• Treasury Solicitor’s Department
• Department for International Development

The following departments are not taking part but will be testing their plans at a later date:

• HM Treasury
• Crown Prosecution Service
• Department for Energy and Climate Change
• HM Revenue and Customs

Which departments have signed up to the 50% ambition?

The following departments have signed up to an ambition to positively change 50% of all of their central London travel at Games time:

• Department for Transport
• Department for Media, Culture and Sport
• Ministry of Justice
• Department for Work and Pensions
• Ministry of Defence
• Business, Innovation and Skills
• Department of Health
• Defra
• Cabinet Office
• Department for Education
• Treasury Solicitor’s Department
• Department for International Development
• HM Treasury
• Crown Prosecution Service
• Department for Energy and Climate Change
• HM Revenue and Customs

The following departments have significant Games-time roles and have committed to positively changing their travel as far as is possible within that constraint:

• Home Office
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Communities and Local Government

Are departments taking different approaches to achieving this ambition?

Departments are responsible for planning and implementing the achievement of the ambition. In doing this they will take in to account current uptake of flexible working practice, the need to maintain any operational services, and any additional activity they will need to undertake during Games time.

Are you doing anything to tackle business travel?

Yes. We’re encouraging staff to consider whether they need to hold a physical meeting, or whether the same objectives could be met using audio-conferencing or video-conferencing.

Of course this will not be the case for every meeting, but we’re asking staff to think twice before automatically setting up a physical meeting for this period.

What about working from alternative locations?

Where there is space available in offices outside central London and we are able to arrange for appropriate office and IT equipment, we are facilitating staff to work from these offices.

Does your 50 per cent ambition include deliveries?

We want to reduce all of the ways we have an impact on the transport network, so this includes deliveries and collections from our central London building. We’re looking in to ways of stockpiling things we would normally have regularly delivered, and consolidating deliveries where possible.

How will you measure a reduction in Government’s travel footprint?

By measuring the proportion of trips we succeed in positively changing.

We will do this by identifying the travel behaviours we want people to avoid if they can – travelling through identified demand hotspots, use of public transport during peak periods – and measuring how many of these trips staff manage to positively change.

What will you be doing following the trial week to prepare for summer?

We will be assessing our success and identifying any barriers that we could unblock to help achieve the travel reductions this summer. We’ll then be ensuring the change in behaviour can be sustained over the longer period of the Olympics and Paralympics.

Will you be encouraging staff to continue their changed behaviour after the Olympics?

We are keen to use the Olympics as a catalyst to encourage travelling and working differently in the longer term, and we consider this to be a key legacy aim.
This work is part of a wider Government agenda to transform ways of working across both Whitehall and business.

 

Why we’re doing it

How will this initiative make a tangible difference to the Olympics?

On the busiest day this summer there will be up to 800,000 spectators travelling around London so the transport network will be very busy. Every trip changed will make a difference. We are also keen to show businesses that Government is making its contribution to demand reductions, as well as asking them to through TfL’s business advice programme.

• Transport for London 2012 Games

This work is part of a wider Government agenda to transform ways of working across both Whitehall and business.

The Olympics isn’t till the summer, why are you doing this for a week in February?

Operation StepChange is the second trial week for the Department for Transport following Operation Footfall in August last year, and the first to involve a number of Departments. It is an opportunity for Government to test its preparations and resilience in advance of the Olympics. We intend that the work will also provide legacy benefits by embedding new ways of working and alternative methods of commuting. We view this as an excellent opportunity to uncover any potential problems that staff may encounter so that we can be fully prepared for the summer.

So will the business of Government slow down for the week?

No. One of the key reasons we’re undertaking this trial is to ensure that our plans to continue delivering essential Government business during the Games are resilient.
This is not about stopping working. It is about continuing to get the work done, while travelling and working differently.

What will staff be doing when they work from home?

Staff who choose to remove some journeys by working from home on days when the business need permits will be progressing with work as they would in the office. We are encouraging staff to continue to plan their work in a way that maximises their productivity, for example by planning ahead and identifying sufficient pieces of work that would benefit from a quieter environment than the office.