§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of proven claims of racial discrimination and what percentage this was of the number of cases investigated, for each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. John PattenRedress for racial discrimination in employment may be sought through industrial tribunals; and in relation to other matters through the courts. It is for the aggrieved individual to initiate action. This may be done with the help of solicitors, trade unions, the Commission for Racial Equality or in other ways. Allegations may well be settled without recourse to a tribunal or court. There is therefore no comprehensive measure of claims of racial discrimination.
Statistics on applications for assistance from individual complainants about racial discrimination received and 631W considered by the Commission for Racial Equality are given in the commission's annual reports, copies of which are available from the Library.
There are no centrally collected statistics of court cases involving claims of racial discrimination. Statistics available under a new system introduced from 1 April 1985 show that the following applications were registered with industrial tribunals:
1985–86 1986–87 (a) Number of applications 649 672 (b) Number of ACAS conciliated settlements 96 95 (c) Withdrawals (not via ACAS) 245 256 (d) Number reaching a hearing 308 321 (e) Number successful after a hearing 60 40 19.5 12.5 (f) (e) as percentage of (d) per cent. percent. ACAS officers have a duty to consider whether they can help parties reach a settlement without the need for a hearing. The figures for applications withdrawn without a hearing will also include some cases where a settlement was reached other than with the help of ACAS.