§ Mr. Gorstasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the average time taken, from the date of reference until the date of report, in the case of the first 42 Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service reports on trade union recognition; how many reports took less than six months; to which companies they related; and why these took substantially less than the average.
§ Mr. John GrantI understand from ACAS that the average time from the date of reference to the date of report for the first 42 published reports on recognition was between nine and 10 months; that two reports, number 1 and 19, relating respectively to Lois Fabric Printing Company Limited and Grunwick Processing Laboratories Limited, took less than six months. The time taken to complete a report depends upon the particular circumstances of the case.