HL Deb 20 November 1984 vol 457 cc566-7WA
Lord Harris of High Cross

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they agree with the view of the industrial tribunal (Case number 5979/84) that the wide veto under the regulations against giving evidence upon, or questioning, "any matter of fact" in the report of an independent witness, "imposes a severe constraint upon the manner in which the content of the report can be tested" and amounts to "the effective removal from the tribunal of its own primary fact-finding role".

Lord Young of Graffham

Parties to cases heard under the Equal Pay (Amendment) Regulations 1983 have two opportunities to bring mistakes or omissions of facts in an expert's report to the attention of the tribunal. First, they can make representations to the expert when he sends to them the summary of facts on which he will base his report, and these representations must be included in the final report. Secondly, they can bring any mistakes or omissions in the first report to the tribunal's notice and call evidence in support before the report is admitted as evidence. This enables the expert's findings on facts to be fully tested.