Wednesday Volume 583 25 June 2014 No. 13 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Wednesday 25 June 2014 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2014 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 297 25 JUNE 2014 298 the number of taxpayer-funded full-time union officials House of Commons from 200 in May 2010 down to around a dozen this month. Wednesday 25 June 2014 Mr Speaker: I allowed the right hon. Gentleman to continue his answer, but my office advises me that it has The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock not been notified of the grouping to which he refers. It might have been the intention, but my office indicates PRAYERS that it has not been notified of it, which obviously it should have been. [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] Alec Shelbrooke: In the past, Departments gave paid time off for union conferences. Can my right hon. Speaker’s Statement Friend confirm that this Government will not be spending taxpayers’ money packing civil servants off to the seaside? Mr Speaker: Before I call Alec Shelbrooke, I wish to inform the House how I will be applying its sub judice Mr Maude: Under the rules that operated under the rules to any exchanges on Mr Coulson’s case. I ask the last Government, it was absolutely the case that thousands House for some forbearance, as it is important to Members of union officials, paid for by the taxpayer as civil and those outside the House that the position is clear. servants, were given paid time off—sometimes, The House will know that Mr Coulson has now been extraordinarily, with paid travel and expenses—to attend convicted on a charge of conspiracy to intercept union conferences at the seaside. We have stopped this. communications. The court has not yet sentenced They can take unpaid time off to attend conferences, Mr Coulson for that offence. There has as yet been no and any decision to award paid time off is entirely at the verdict on two charges against him of conspiracy to discretion of the Minister in charge of that civil servant’s commit misconduct in public office. The rules of the Department. House’s sub judice resolution, which the House rightly expects me to enforce, apply to criminal cases which are Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) “active”. They cease to be active when, and I quote, (Lab): Will the right hon. Gentleman ensure that the guidelines will allow those people responsible to the “they are concluded by verdict and sentence”, Home Office for the efficient administration of passport so they apply in this case. services to be involved in the consultation to find a At the same time, the House’s resolution gives the solution to the crisis, given that they predicted it in the Chair discretion in applying the rules. I have taken first place? appropriate advice, as the House would expect—and, indeed, been in receipt of unsolicited advice, for which I Mr Maude: It remains and has always been the case am of course grateful. In the light of all the circumstances, that union officials are entitled to paid time off to I have decided, one, to allow reference to Mr Coulson’s pursue their union duties, as opposed to activities. If conviction; two, not to allow reference to his sentencing those discussions are in pursuit of their duties because by the court, such as speculation on the nature of that they relate to particular employment issues, that will of sentence; and three, not to allow reference to those course continue to be the case. charges on which the verdict is awaited. I rely on hon. Members to exercise restraint, but if that proves unavailing, 10. [904463]David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale) I will of course intervene. I hope that is helpful to the (Con): What has my right hon. Friend put in place to House. monitor and indeed limit the facilities provided to trade unions at taxpayers’ expense within the civil service? Mr Maude: Again, there were no arrangements at all Oral Answers to Questions 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 CABINET OFFICE complete. However, we will continue to pursue this. The Minister for the Cabinet Office was asked— Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab): The Paymaster General will of course be aware that many Trade Union Facility Time private sector employers, such as Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover and Airbus, all take advantage of facility 1. Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con): What time, because they know it helps with workplace relations recent progress he has made on reform of trades union and with their obligations to consult. The private sector facility time in Government Departments. [904453] can recognise the benefits of facility time, so rather than knocking facility time in the public sector, why can he The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster not recognise its benefits for that sector? General (Mr Francis Maude): Mr Speaker, with permission I will take questions 1 and 10 together. Mr Maude: I do recognise the benefits, which is At the time of the last general election, there was no why—even if we wanted to, which we do not—we monitoring of taxpayer-funded trade union facility time are not proposing to get rid of it altogether. All we are in the civil service. We now have controls in place that saying is that it should be in accordance with the law saved £19 million last year, and we have already reduced and the obligations that the statute places on us as 299 Oral Answers25 JUNE 2014 Oral Answers 300 employers. I am the first to recognise that there are Mr Maude: No good organisation gives up on pursuing often advantages in being able to resolve disputes quickly efficiency savings year after year. The Office for National and locally before they escalate, which is why some Statistics has shown that in the public sector productivity facility time will continue to be available. remained static during the Labour years while it rose by nearly 30% in the private services sector. If productivity Departmental Efficiency had risen by the same amount in the public sector, the budget deficit that the coalition Government inherited 2. Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab): What recent could have been many, many tens of billions of pounds progress he has made on the Government’s efficiency lower. agenda. [904454] Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab): I want the 5. Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con): What progress he Minister to understand just how fearful and uncertain has made on his programme of savings through staff at the MOJ shared services centre in Newport feel efficiency and reform of central Government. [904457] after this week’s announcement of privatisation. How can he justify the hypocrisy of the Prime Minister 7. Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con): What estimate he talking about the UK becoming an onshoring nation has made of the savings arising from measures to when under this contract jobs could be offshored? What increase departmental efficiency; and if he will make a guarantees are the Government offering that these jobs statement. [904460] could stay in Newport? The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster Mr Speaker: Order. Before the Minister answers, the General (Mr Francis Maude): On 10 June, my right hon. hon. Lady must withdraw the use of the word “hypocrisy”, Friend the Chancellor and I announced savings through as it relates to an individual Minister. efficiency reform of central Government of £14.3 billion for 2013-14, against a 2009-10 baseline. Those savings Jessica Morden: I withdraw it. are both recurring and non-recurring items, and include £5.4 billion from procurement and commercial savings, Mr Speaker: I am grateful to the hon. Lady. £3.3 billion in project savings and £4.7 billion from work force reform and pension savings. Mr Maude: The hon. Lady is making assumptions about what will happen to those jobs which I have no Nick Smith: The Government have said that they reason to believe are justified. If the quality of the work want to move jobs out of Whitehall and into areas such and the efficiency at Newport is as good as she believes, as south Wales, but in August 1,000 jobs could be I am sure that the management of SSCL will want to offshored, perhaps to India, from the Ministry of Justice look carefully at retaining jobs there. shared services centre in Newport. Will the Minister look at this again? Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con): Which part Mr Maude: Earlier this week, the MOJ announced its of which Department has provided the most fertile plans to take forward the agreed plans on shared services, ground for efficiency savings? which were first put forward under the Labour Government in 2004 but did not begin to be implemented until 2012. Mr Maude: That is a very good question, but if I were There are major efficiency savings to be made. I am sure to go through that in elaborate detail, you would cut me that SSCL—Shared Services Connected Ltd—the shared short, Mr Speaker. There are opportunities for efficiency service company the MOJ proposes to use, will look savings right across Government and the public sector. carefully at all the facilities and will want to concentrate We have made significant progress, but, as my hon.