Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 82334 on Home Office: Facilities Agreements, whether there has been a change to facility time arrangements in her Department since July 2024; and if she will make an assessment of the reasons for the change in the (a) cost and (b) number of facility time staff.

There have not been any changes to facility time arrangements in the Home Office since July 2024.

There will always be fluctuations from one year to another in terms of the number of employees elected as trade union reps and the amount of facility time they use to undertake their duties.

These fluctuations will be driven by a range of factors, such as vacancies on trade union committees being filled, the number of consultation exercises the employer needs to engage the unions on and the level of personal casework (e.g. grievances and disciplinaries) where trade union representatives may be supporting individual employees.