§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many unfair dismissal claims reached the stage of tribunal hearings; and with what result, from employees in undertakings employing (a) less than 20 and (b) less than 100 in the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Harold WalkerIn 1977, 12,842 unfair dismissal claims reached a tribunal hearing. I regret that the information requested in the second part of the question is not available. However, in 1975 the number of unfair dismissal applications recorded and analysed by size of respondent's labour force is as follows:
NUMBER OF UNFAIR DISMISSAL CASES Number of Employees Less than 20 4,736 Less than 100 11,458 The total number of unfair dismissal cases recorded in 1975 was 22,632, of which 8,729 reached a tribunal hearing.