HC Deb 20 October 1994 vol 248 cc326-7W
Mr. Raynsford

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the non-departmental public bodies to which his Department makes appointments in the Greater London area, together with the total annual budget for each body and the number of appointments made or renewed in each of the last five years.

Miss Widdecombe

In the Greater London area, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment is responsible for the appointment of lay members to the London (north) regional office of industrial tribunals and the London (south) regional office of industrial tribunals; and of chairmen and members to the London north and London south committees for the employment of people with disabilities.

It is not possible to breakdown the budget for these non-departmental public bodies. National figures for the industrial tribunals and CEPDs are available for the 1992–93 financial year in "Public Bodies 1993", a copy of which is available in the Library.

Appointments and re-appointments to the industrial tribunals are made every three years, the last two such exercises having been carried out in 1989 and 1992. In 1989, a total of 46 new appointments and 277 re-appointments were made to industrial tribunals within the jurisdiction of the London (north) and London (south) regional offices. In 1992, there were 109 new appointments and 219 re-appointments.

The two London CEPDs each have an independent chairman and 13 members. The committees are reconstituted every three years when all appointments are considered afresh. The last reconstitution exercise was completed in March 1994. Running records of appointments including replacement members are not kept centrally and regional records do not go back as far as five years.