Public Sector: Trade Unions
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to paragraph 94 of his Department's final stage impact assessment entitled Strengthening workers’ rights to trade union access, recognition and representation, published on 21 October 2024, whether he has made an estimate of the cost of the statutory right of facility time for trade union equality activities to (a) local government and (b) the civil service.
Answered by Justin Madders
Equality representatives play a key role in raising awareness and promoting equal rights, as well as developing collective policies and practices that will enable organisations to realise the benefits of being an equal opportunities employer.
As the impact assessment notes the cost of equality representatives taking facility time is not likely to be significant for individual employers and could benefit business performance and worker retention. The impact assessment also identified a £0.33m benefit to public sector employers from not having to provide information on facility time.
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