§ Baroness Turner of Camden asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ What steps are being taken to eliminate delays in hearings before industrial tribunals of unfair dismissal and other cases.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Employment (Viscount Ullswater)My Lords, to deal with the high level of applications Her Majesty's Government increased the budget for the industrial tribunals by over £2 million in the current financial year, enabling more chairmen and administrative staff to be recruited. Measures are also being taken to improve efficiency.
§ Baroness Turner of CamdenMy Lords, I thank the Minister for that response. However, is he aware that from figures issued by his department in October it would appear that only a small minority of cases are heard within six weeks? Most of them take between 15 to 26 weeks before they are heard. Is he also aware that his right honourable friend in the other place, in dealing with the Maastricht agreement, made the following statement:
We have a comprehensive set of employment rights in law, and rapid and effective recourse to Tribunals for all those whose rights may have been infringed"?Is that not inaccurate in the present circumstances?
§ Viscount UllswaterMy Lords, no, I do not believe it is. I recognise that there will be some delay between the time the application is made and the case being heard. That is often a question of gathering the evidence together. The target remains that 60 per cent. of cases be heard within 12 weeks. Over 80 per cent. of the cases coming to a hearing do so within 26 weeks. The Answer I gave acknowledges the fact that there has been an increase in the number of cases.