Facility Time

The request was successful.

John Gallacher

Dear Orkney College,

Under Freedom of Information Scotland, I wish to receive the following information within 20 working days:

(1) How many hours of facility time per week are allocated to the various trade unions within your college for local business and how is this determined? Is it allocated by trade union or by steward? Please provide a breakdown by trade union.

(2) How many stewards do you have for each recognised union?

(3) Over and above the core allocation to the stewards involved in the local bargaining machinery, do you provide additional facility time to health and safety, learning or equalities reps? If so, please detail arrangements for each trade union and indicate whether or not this allocation is already covered in your response to question one or whether this is additional.

(4) Is more time given to stewards who are involved in the local bargaining machinery to those who are not? Please specify the amount per week for each trade union.

(5) Are any of your local stewards involved in the national bargaining machinery? If so, how much time is allocated to them per week to facilitate this and how many stewards are involved? Please detail for each trade union and indicate whether or not this time is already included in your response to question one or whether this is an additional allocation.

(6) Are any of your local stewards on facility time to run a trade union branch? If so, how many for each trade union and how many hours per week are allocated? Again, is this additional to the response provided for question one?

(7) When stewards are on union business, are there back-filling arrangements in place to cover their work? Please detail the arrangements for each of the recognised unions.

(8) Does your college support the notion of a central facility time fund whereby each college within the sector pays an equal share of the costs associated with national bargaining?

(9) If you answered yes to question 8, please indicate whether or not this position has been put formally to the Employers Association in any relevant discussions/votes.

Yours faithfully,

John Gallacher

Dear Sir

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – Request for Information

Thank you for your information request dated 8 May 2020 and received on 11 May 2020. Our reference is FOI 2020-0375. This is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

We are considering your request. We may be in touch soon to ask for further clarification or to offer advice and assistance if we are not able to fulfil your request in its present form.

The legislation allows us up to 60 working days from the date that we receive a valid request, including any clarification we need to make a final response. We will be in touch within 60 working days of receipt of your initial request to provide our response or to seek clarification where necessary. We hope to give you the information you are looking for at an earlier date if possible.

The Council is under significant pressure to deliver only essential services whilst the current social isolation measures are in place within the UK. Whilst we have a legal obligation to respond to FOIs, EIRs and SARs, we are unlikely to be able to respond at present within the normal timescales and there will inevitably be some delays. We apologise for any inconvenience, although we are sure that you will fully understand the situation.

Regards

Katy Russell-Duff
Administrative Officer
Corporate Services
Orkney Islands Council
Council Offices, School Place, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY
Working from home at present

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Dear Sir

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – Request for Information

I refer to your email dated 8 May 2020 and received on 11 May 2020, our reference is FOI 2020-0375.

I am pleased to give the information you requested and hope that it meets your requirements.

(1) How many hours of facility time per week are allocated to the various trade unions within your college for local business and how is this determined? Is it allocated by trade union or by steward? Please provide a breakdown by trade union.

Orkney Islands Council (Orkney College) is not a signatory to the NRPA in respect of National Bargaining within the Scottish College Sector. The College as part of the Council does not have a formal Facilities Time agreement but operates to the ACAS Code of Practice in respect of Time off for Trade Union Duties and Activities.

(2) How many stewards do you have for each recognised union?

There are 4 EIS stewards, there are no records of other unions having stewards.

(3) Over and above the core allocation to the stewards involved in the local bargaining machinery, do you provide additional facility time to health and safety, learning or equalities reps? If so, please detail arrangements for each trade union and indicate whether or not this allocation is already covered in your response to question one or whether this is additional.

Refer back to the response to Q1.

(4) Is more time given to stewards who are involved in the local bargaining machinery to those who are not? Please specify the amount per week for each trade union.

Refer back to the response to Q1.

(5) Are any of your local stewards involved in the national bargaining machinery? If so, how much time is allocated to them per week to facilitate this and how many stewards are involved? Please detail for each trade union and indicate whether or not this time is already included in your response to question one or whether this is an additional allocation.

Refer back to the response to Q1.

(6) Are any of your local stewards on facility time to run a trade union branch? If so, how many for each trade union and how many hours per week are allocated? Again, is this additional to the response provided for question one?

Refer back to the response to Q1.

(7) When stewards are on union business, are there back-filling arrangements in place to cover their work? Please detail the arrangements for each of the recognised unions.

Refer to answer to Q1, it is a management decision as to whether backfill is necessary and as such to arrange backfill as appropriate.

(8) Does your college support the notion of a central facility time fund whereby each college within the sector pays an equal share of the costs associated with national bargaining?

No

(9) If you answered yes to question 8, please indicate whether or not this position has been put formally to the Employers Association in any relevant discussions/votes.

N/A

Under FOISA, if you are dissatisfied with our response, you may ask the Council to review its handling of your request. If you wish to do this, you should make your request for review with 40 working days of receiving this email. Please make your request for review to Head of Legal Services, Council Offices, School Place, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY or email to [email address]. Your request must be in permanent form (letter, email, audio tape etc) and should state:

That you are asking for a review of this decision, and
Why you are unhappy with the response you have received.

We will issue a full response to your request for review within 60 working days of our receiving it.

Where the outcome of the review fails to resolve the matter to your complete satisfaction, you then have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision. You have six months in which to do so following receipt of our review outcome – see www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal.

Regards

George Vickers
Information Governance Officer
Corporate Services
Orkney Islands Council, Council Offices, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY
www.orkney.gov.uk

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