§ Mr. Cockeramasked the Secretary of State for Employment in how many disputes his Department conciliated in 1972; how this figure compares with previous years; how conciliation was initiated; and what measure of success was achieved.
§ Mr. Maurice MacmillanIn 1972 my Department conciliated in 716 disputes. This is the highest ever annual figure and compares with 650 in 1971 and an average of 487 over the five years to 1970. In 61 per cent. of the cases requests for178W conciliation were made by trade unions. Joint requests from employers and trade unions were made in 20 per cent. of the cases and conciliation at the employer's request accounted for 14 per cent. In 71 per cent. of the disputes conciliation helped the parties to reach a settlement or enabled a deadlock to be broken. This proportion has remained almost constant over the past decade.