It’s bureaucratic nonsense and unnecessary. The facility time itself, as research has shown, provides the public, the council tax payers, with benefits and savings through the work that they do.

If the Tories were able to set aside for a moment their anti-trade union prejudice and talk to public service trade unions, they might begin to get some understanding of what they do, and learn that most lay representatives will spend the majority of their time working with the employer to jointly tackle workplace issues as well as supporting health and safety, training, and management of change initiatives. A lot of this work they do in their own time, in addition to any facility time given by the employer.

The unwarranted reporting requirements that would result if this amendment is passed would carry with them another unnecessary cost, but would also be a distraction from the important work undertaken by accredited and trained trade union representatives working with their employer to address workplace challenges and build good industrial relations, which, in turn, reduces the likelihood of disputes and days lost through industrial action, again demonstrating that such arrangements are actually a cost benefit to most employers. For these reasons, Llywydd, I shall be voting against this amendment.