Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the total cost of facility time to (1) NHS England and (2) 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 Department and NHS England routinely publish details of trade union facility time in their respective annual reports, in line with the Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017.

They are available at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025