Obiter is no stranger to Ministry of Justice-bashing, but let's give credit where it is due. 

To back up his call for civil servants to return to office working, the minister for government efficiency, Jacob Rees-Mogg, today published a league table allegedly showing the percentage of civil servants working from the office in the week beginning 4 April. 

According to the figures, just 48% of MoJ personnel were at their desks in Petty France and elsewhere that week. For solicitors (and journalists) who have been at their respective coal-faces throughout the pandemic, that may not look great. But it places the MoJ fifth out of 19 government departments, behind only the Department for International Trade (73%), the Department for Health and Social Care (72%), Rees-Mogg's own Cabinet Office (69%) and the Ministry of Defence (67%). 

The MoJ shares its ranking with the Department for Transport and HM Treasury. At the bottom of the table are the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (31%), the Department for Work and Pensions (27%) and the Department for Education (25%). 

Obiter would say that the MoJ's attendance record is particularly good considering the Grey Lubyanka's lack of lifestyle-enhancing attractions which we have seen being installed by City firms desperate to lure staff back to their desks.

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