Trade Unions

Attorney-General written question – answered at on 7 September 2010.

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Photo of Priti Patel Priti Patel Conservative, Witham

To ask the Attorney-General how many paid manpower hours civil servants in the Law Officers' Departments spent on trade union-related duties and activities in each year since 1997.

Photo of Edward Garnier Edward Garnier The Solicitor-General

TSol gives a facility time allowance to each of the two recognised Trade Unions (PCS and FDA) for its committee members; the monitoring of this allowance is delegated to local business managers and no central record is held of the actual amounts taken during any financial year. The same arrangement also covers AGO staff.

The facility time allowed is as follows:

PCS-an allocation of 1.3 full-time equivalent staff years for Group Office Holders, In addition, one hours facility time was allowed for each member to attend the Annual General Meeting.

FDA-an allocation of approximately 0.15 full-time equivalent staff years for Group Office Holders. In addition, one hours facility time was allowed for each member to attend the Annual General Meeting.

Information regarding the amount of time spent by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) staff on trade union related duties and activities is not available for the period before 2008. The total time spent by paid CPS civil servants on trade union related duties and activities for both unions in the CPS during the periods 2008-09 and 2009-10 was 28, 515 hours and 35, 852 hours respectively.

The Serious Fraud Office does not hold details on the number of days spent by staff engaged on trade union activities. It would be possible to provide such data only at a disproportionate cost.

The size of HMCPSI does not justify an agreement for routine facility time. HMCPSI has a Whitley council which meets quarterly and is attended by FDA and PCS representatives, and where it is necessary for union representatives to devote time to specific activities on personal cases, this is done by agreement with their line manager. No formal record is maintained.

No days were spent by civil servants of the National Fraud Authority on trade union-related activities while being paid salaries in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

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