Trade Union Business
Request
- The details of any office accommodation your organisation provides to staff to carry out trade union business. Please include details of:
a. space measured in square feet
b. how much of this space is contained within entirely separate buildings (i.e. occupied solely by staff carrying out trade union business)
c. whether a professional valuation of the market rental value of the space has been sought either in-house or externally, and if so, what the valuation of the space was
d. any charges the council levy for office space given to trade unions.
Do you deduct trade union subscriptions for any of your employees via payroll (sometimes known as the "check off" system)? If so, do you charge a fee to the trade unions concerned for providing this service?
With regard to trade union facility time, please provide the total cost of facility time from your pay bill for the financial year 2023/24 and the budget for the current financial year. Please also advise the current number of employees that you fund to be union officials, measured as full time equivalents?
Please advise any estimates for other costs met for those staff on trade union facility time apart from salaries - including travel expenses, office supplies, telephone expenses and energy bills.
Response
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In your email you have requested:
- The details of any office accommodation your organisation provides to staff to carry out trade union business. Please include details of:
a. space measured in square feet
b. how much of this space is contained within entirely separate buildings (i.e. occupied solely by staff carrying out trade union business)
c. whether a professional valuation of the market rental value of the space has been sought either in-house or externally, and if so, what the valuation of the space was
d. any charges the council levy for office space given to trade unions.
Do you deduct trade union subscriptions for any of your employees via payroll (sometimes known as the "check off" system)? If so, do you charge a fee to the trade unions concerned for providing this service?
With regard to trade union facility time, please provide the total cost of facility time from your pay bill for the financial year 2023/24 and the budget for the current financial year. Please also advise the current number of employees that you fund to be union officials, measured as full time equivalents?
Please advise any estimates for other costs met for those staff on trade union facility time apart from salaries - including travel expenses, office supplies, telephone expenses and energy bills.
The Gambling Commission can confirm as follows:
1a. 25974 square feet.
1b. None.
1c. Information not held.
1d. Information not held.
Yes, we do offer this for colleagues in the union. We do not currently charge a fee to the trade union to do so, but should there be changes to the union rates which attract a fee from our payroll provider to implement, then Trade Union (Deduction of Union Subscriptions from Wages in the Public Sector) Regulations will apply.
Section 21 of the FOIA provides that information is exempt where it is reasonably accessible elsewhere. In order to be of assistance, please see our annual report and accounts (page 110): Gambling Commission annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab). This is the 2023/24 figure.
This information is not held by the Gambling Commission.
Review of the decision
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email.
Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.
If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission.
It should be noted that if you wish to raise a complaint with the ICO about the Commission’s handling of your request for information, then you are required to do so within six weeks of receiving your final response or last substantive contact with us.
The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in a new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Information Management Team
Gambling Commission