The Morecambe & Lunesdale MP David Morris has welcomed news that the Government has put in place arrangements to monitor what facilities are being made available to union officials at taxpayers’ expense.
Responding to a question put by David Morris in the House of Commons, Cabinet Minister Rt Hon Francis Maude MP said:
“(T)here were no arrangements at all to monitor what facilities were being made available to union officials at taxpayers’ expense. We have now put in place arrangements to try to find out exactly what is going on, but I regret to say that the data are not yet complete. However, we will continue to pursue this.
The Minister also confirmed that there are controls in place that saved £19 Million last year, the Minister added:
“At the time of the last general election, there was no monitoring of taxpayer-funded trade union facility time in the civil service. We now have controls in place that saved £19 million last year, and we have already reduced the number of taxpayer-funded full-time union officials from 200 in May 2010 down to around a dozen this month.”
Speaking from Westminster David Morris MP said:
“I am pleased that the Government has now put in place arrangements to find out what is going on, when the data is complete I will scrutinise it.”
“It is astonishing that at the 2010 General Election there was no monitoring of taxpayer-funded trade union facility time. I welcome that because the Government has addressed this, £19 Million was saved last year.”