To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

(1) how much his Department and its predecessors has paid to trade unions in each year since 1997; and what estimate he has made of the monetary value of facilities provided by his Department and its predecessor for use by trade unions in each year since 1997;

(2) how many paid manpower hours civil servants in his Department and its predecessors spent on trade union-related duties and activities in each year since 1997;

(3) how many civil servants in his Department and its predecessors spent the equivalent of (a) five days or fewer, (b) five to 10 days, (c) 10 to 15 days, (d) 15 to 20 days, (e) 20 to 25 days and (f) 25 days or more on trade union-related activities or duties while being paid salaries from the public purse in each year since 1997.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was created on 6 June 2009 by merging the former Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). Records of trade union related activities are therefore not available for 2009/10 or before the merger.

The trade unions represented within this Department are: FDA, Prospect and PCS. Since the formation of BIS in 2009, no money has been paid to any of the three trade unions recognised for collective bargaining in BIS.

BIS currently employs 3.0 full-time departmental Trade Union Side Officers at an approximate cost of £90,000. Across BIS a number of staff have small facilities time allocations. More details on this can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

This Department provides office facilities within its buildings at 1 Victoria Street, London and at St Paul's Place in Sheffield for the use of the Trade Union Side. The current cost per annum of providing this space is £26,205. As a consequence of the Department's formation, it operates two IT contracts with different service components and differing charging regimes that are in the process of being unified. Currently it is not possible to separate the costs sufficiently to respond accurately to this specific request.