HC Deb 14 December 1994 vol 251 cc696-7W
Mr. Aspinwall

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what progress has been made on the internal review of the operation of the industrial tribunals announced by the then Under-Secretary of State on 29 April 1994,Official Report, columns 379–80.

Mr. Oppenheim

Following the completion of the internal review of industrial tribunals, the Government are today publishing a Green Paper, "Resolving Employment Rights Disputes: Options for Reform".

Since their inception in 1964, the role of industrial tribunals has steadily developed as their jurisdiction has expanded. The Government believe that industrial tribunals have proved to be a fair and effective means for adjudicating employment rights disputes. They are firmly committed to ensuring that they continue to provide an easily accessible, informal, speedy and inexpensive means of redress in accordance with the criteria laid down in 1968 and accepted by all Governments since then.

The industrial tribunal system has been subjected to growing pressures in recent years. Employment legislation has grown both in extent and complexity, the numbers of tribunal applications have doubled since 1989 and are expected to continue rising and hearing delays have increased unacceptably. The Department's internal review was commissioned to find ways of helping the tribunals to cope and to achieve greater efficiency and reduced delays.

The Green Paper sets out a range of proposals designed to increase the proportion of disputes settled voluntarily by the parties themselves or with third party assistance, to simplify and improve tribunal procedures and to improve the organisation and management of the administrative support.

The Government invite views on those proposals. Improvements which can be achieved through administrative action by the Department are already going ahead; decisions on whether and how to proceed with those requiring legislation will be taken in the light of the consultations. However, the Government have decided that tribunals should have discretion whether to obtain a view from an independent expert when deciding claims for equal pay for work of equal value.

It is the Government's intention that any efficiency savings should be applied to improving standards of service to the public.