Ministers in this Department believe that the current subsidies and support given to the trade unions by the public sector are poor value for money and represent an unhealthy relationship between the state and voluntary sector.

Trade union activities and campaigning in local government, and indeed our Department, should be funded by members' subscriptions, not bankrolled by the taxpayer. Greater freedom from state dependency will help ensure that trade union bosses better reflect and respond to the wishes and views of the grassroots members who pay the bill.

The following tables give a breakdown of the assorted costs to taxpayers.

For the five years requested, the estimated spend on facility time in the Audit Commission is £116,984 per year. However, the majority of facility time staff users

have now left the organisation and the residual body no longer has the time sheet records to allow a more detailed analysis.

The Local Government Ombudsman and the Housing Ombudsman do not collect comparative facility time or cost information on their trade union representatives.

The following Arms Length Bodies do not have any trade union representatives: Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Leasehold Advisory Service, the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation, Building Regulations Advisory Committee and the Architects Registration Board.

Figures are not held for the quangos which we have abolished, such as the Government Offices for the Regions, Tenant Services Authority and Standards Board. However, taxpayer savings will have been made as a consequence of their abolition.

Hospitality by facility time users

This is a nil return, based on information centrally held.

Further cost savings

Following the Cabinet Office review of the use of facility time and facilities in the civil service, the Department for Communities and Local Government has made further changes to its facility time arrangements. With effect from 1 April 2013, the overall facility allocation has been reduced to 0.04% of the pay bill and all trade union representatives will spend the majority of their time in civil service roles.

The number of full-time trade union representatives has reduced to zero. We have also taken broader steps to prevent what Ministers in this Department consider to be inappropriate use of departmental facilities for campaigning purposes.

The Department has also strongly encouraged its Arms Length Bodies to make changes to their facility time arrangements and has started to collect facility time cost information from the 1 April 2013. The following table shows the estimated costs for 2013-14.

Check-off arrangements

The cost to the core Department of administering the debits from payroll for ‘check-off are currently included in the total overall cost of the managed payroll service we receive from Logica and are not billed as a separate cost. The additional cost of transferring credits to the three recognised unions currently amounts to £329 per annum. In this context, given the total cost will be higher and bundled within the managed payroll service, there is a hidden subsidy to the unions. These figures do not include our Arms Length Bodies.

As indicated above, this is not an issue of money, but also of the broader principle of taxpayer-funding of trade unions. Ministers in this Department do not believe it is appropriate for public resources to be used to support the collection and administration of membership subscriptions and believe is an outdated and unnecessary 20th Century practice. It is also unsatisfactory that trade unions like PCS collect the political levy via check-off, but make no attempt to inform would-be members that the political levy is optional or even mention the right to opt out on their membership forms. It is the view of Ministers in this Department that this is a misleading and dubious marketing practice through omission.

Despite a legal challenge by PCS, based on a technical point of law stemming from the wording of the staff handbook introduced during the last Labour Government, it remains Ministers' intention to take the necessary steps to end the check-off arrangements.

In relation to the costs from that legal case, I would also observe that PCS has a larger unpaid bill from two years ago for costs awarded to the Government after PCS's failed judicial review of the Civil Service Compensation scheme reforms.

Conclusion

In total, we estimate that the ongoing savings to facility time may in due course represent up to £400,000 a year of taxpayers' money, as well as delivering a clearer and healthier separation between trade unions and the state.