TAXPAYERS MONEY

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Whitehall departments are spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money paying the salaries of trade union officials. Ministries and Government agencies spent more than £17 million paying staff to carry out “trade union activities” last year. Some departments are paying staff to work full-time on trade union business and some full-time civil servants spend three days a work carrying out union activities and still receive a full salary from the Government. Public spending on union activities was disclosed in official figures released to MPs.

The Ministry of Justice said it paid its staff to carry out 43,208 days of trade union activity in 2008/09. The estimated total salary cost to the taxpayer was £6.5 million. HM Revenue and Customs paid its staff for 48,902 days of union activity during, at a cost of £5,918,065. In the current financial year, the Department for Work and Pensions has budgeted to pay its staff to carry out 42,460 days of trade union activity, at an estimated cost of more than £5 million. Several ministries said they effectively employ full-time union representatives at public expense.

The Department of Children, Schools and Families pays the salaries of four members of staff engaged in “national full-time trade union activity”. Their annual wage bill is £118,000. The Department of Communities and Local Government employs two full time union workers at a cost of £95,000. It also spent £192,000 paying part-time union workers for their union activities. The Department for International Development said it has one full-time staff member “allocated to undertake trade union activities” and paid £30,000 to £35,000. At the Treasury, one senior official spends three days a week on trade union activity.

Other Government bodies that confirmed they are paying for union activity include the Crown Prosecution Service, which spent £535,915 last year, the Treasury Solicitor’s Department, which spent £37,212, and the Royal Parks, which spent £29,333. The total annual bill for trade union activity in Whitehall is likely to be significantly higher than £17 million, because several ministries and agencies have refused to provide figures for their spending. The union representatives being paid by the Government are understood to be from a number of unions.

Many are members of the Public and Commercial Services Union and Prospect. Some based outside Whitehall are believed to be members of Unite, the union behind the British Airways strike. Union representatives have had a statutory right to “reasonable paid time off” to carry out trade union duties since 1975. Labour gave union representatives more rights to paid time off in 2002, passing a new law allowing union members paid time off for union training courses. Unite and its component unions have been given £18 million by the Government for training courses from its Union Learning Fund. (Source: Sunday Telegraph, Mar/10)

Taxpayers are having to pay out thousands of pounds for parking fines run up by Cabinet ministers. The bill for the last three years is a staggering £33,000, which is almost £1,000 a month. Officially ministers are meant to pay their own fines but by exploiting a security loophole the bill is being picked up by taxpayers instead. Department for Transport figures reveal Cabinet ministers were hit with £13,930 in parking fines this year. That is on top of £7,540 and £11,928 the previous two years, all paid for them. At £40 a time it works out at one fine per month for each Cabinet level minister. Transport Minister Lord Bassam said, “Parking tickets remain the responsibility of the individual. The government car and despatch agency pays parking fines incurred operationally in circumstances where the overriding security requirements necessarily dictate the choice of parking location.” (Source: News of the World, Dec/08)

Taxpayers are having to pay more than £20m per year so that Foreign Office staff can have their children educated at some of the most expensive private boarding schools in the country. In 2006 the Foreign Office funded 540 children through private schools in the UK as a perk for its staff who can get posted around the world. But the bill for these children, approximately £24,000 each, had to be picked up by the taxpayer. In total the Foreign Office spent £20.663m on school fees for its staff members' children with £13m being spent in the UK and the rest at schools abroad, where an estimated 150 children were educated. The Foreign Office admits it allows the private education perk to staff such as ambassadors and other embassy staff who have to move around the globe.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said, "Our provisions for children's education are intended to help staff meet the conflicting obligations of being prepared to serve anywhere in the world at short notice and having a legal obligation as parents to ensure their children receive full-time education. We expect children who accompany their parents on postings overseas to use free state schooling if it is available locally and suitable. If suitable English-language schooling is not available free of charge locally but is available at fee-charging schools, we refund fees to enable children to receive the education they would be entitled to in the UK."

He added, "With staff and their families having to move at regular intervals, sometimes at short notice and at times which may disrupt schooling for their children, and education facilities at Posts overseas varying or not being available at all, continuity of education can be problematic particularly during the important exam years. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Continuity of Education Allowance addresses this problem by enabling children to board at schools in the UK as long as their parents remain subject to the worldwide mobility obligation and take up postings overseas." (Source: Daily Mail, Nov/07)

Islington Council in North London, has spent £184,572 wine and sandwiches. Champagne, wines, smoked salmon, organic chicken and roast beef were all provided as the authority ran up a £184,572 bill for "refreshments" in 2006. The Lib Dem run council serves up the food at weekly meetings for VIP guests. Deputy council leader Terry Stacy said, "This needs to be seen in context. We have hundreds of meetings and events each year, often including the public. We take steps to keep expenditure in check. Our spend on refreshments fell last year."

Latest police figures record more than 34,000 offences in a year, including six murders, 86 rapes, 102 gun-related crimes, 5,915 violent attacks, 1,472 robberies, 3,557 burglaries and 4,464 motoring offences. Labour councillor Richard Greening said the cash would have been better spent on crime prevention or on Islington Green secondary school which is £250,000 in the red. The school is closed but due to open as a city academy next year. Cllr Greening said, "Putting in £180,000 now would take the pressure off staff and students and enable the school to be entirely focused on educating rather than on damaging cuts." (Source: Sunday People, Aug/07)

And if that wasn't enough ......

Islington council spent £142,000 "sexing-up" its old logo with a wavy stripe in two shades of green. The line took a design team four months to dream-up as part of an "image makeover", the council's second in four years, and lettering that used to be white on a green background is now green on a white background. The makeover has been added to signs, letterheads and even mugs in council offices. Bosses believe the "fresher" logo will make the council more trendy. (Source: Sunday People, Aug/07)

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