Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many and what proportion of trade union members of each trade union with a political fund in Northern Ireland pay into that political fund, according to the most recent figures held by the Certification Office for Northern Ireland.

We have performed a comprehensive search of our systems and determined that the Northern Ireland Office does not hold the requested information.

In addition, we consider requests for such information to be exempt from disclosure. Public sector employers in the UK are not legally required to publish or disclose how many employees pay union subscriptions or contribute to a political fund, and the Certification Office does not publish organisation‑specific membership figures.

In the UK, trade union membership information is treated as sensitive personal data. Because of this, employers generally cannot disclose how many individuals in their organisation pay union subscriptions or contribute to a political fund unless there is a lawful basis, such as aggregated reporting required by statute.

The Certification Office for Northern Ireland oversees trade unions and employers’ associations, but its published information is limited to:

• Annual returns submitted by unions

• Total union membership numbers

• Total political fund contributors (at union level)

These figures are reported by the union, not by individual employers, and they are not broken down by employer or workplace.