Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what was the total cost of facility time to the department in (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26; and what was the headcount number of facility time staff in each; how many were 100% facility time; and whether funding was provided for trade union activities in each of those years.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Public and Commercial Services (PCS) branch can confirm that between September 2025 and August 2026, one member of staff had 50 per cent facility time in order to serve as a representative of FCDO PCS branch. During this period, no other staff had facility time in order to serve as representatives for FCDO PCS branch. All other FCDO PCS representatives during this period served as representatives in a voluntary capacity, in addition to their paid employment for FCDO or other organisations covered by the branch. FCDO provided funding for trade union activities carried out by that one member of staff.

FCDO recognises three trade unions - PCS, FDA (Association of First Division Civil Servants) and Prospect. It is entirely possible that FDA and Prospect have representatives with facility time in FCDO, but this information is not available to FCDO PCS branch.