§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what consideration he has given to proposals for the involvement of ACAS at the outset of an industrial dispute. [19311]
§ Mr. OppenheimThe quinquennial review of ACAS conducted by the Employment Department in 1992–93, examined all aspects of the service's operations. It concluded that the current system of voluntary conciliation in industrial disputes worked well and there are therefore no plans to change this at present.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment with how many(a) small, (b) medium and (c) large organisations in terms of numbers employed, ACAS has been involved in attempting to settle disputes in each of the last five years. [19312]
§ Mr. OppenheimThe Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service provides assistance in settling disputes through conciliation in collective industrial disputes and through conciliation in most individual employment rights cases, where complaints have been or could be made to an industrial tribunal.
276WIn 1994, ACAS was requested to provide collective conciliation in 1,313 cases, as follows:
Number of employees in establishment Percentage of requests 1–49 13 50–199 29 200–999 37 1,000+ 21 I regret that it is not possible to provide a similar breakdown for previous years, but the total number of collective conciliation requests received in the previous four years is shown in the following list:
- 1993: 1,211
- 1992: 1,207
- 1991: 1,386
- 1990: 1,260
As regards individual conciliation cases, no records are kept of the size of the respondents' organisations. However, the following figures relate to cases completed in 1990–91 and derived from the Employment Department's 1992 survey of industrial tribunal applications. These show the distribution of industrial tribunal cases in four of the jurisdictions where ACAS conciliation officers were statutorily required to intervene, by size of organisation.
Distribution of Industrial Tribunal Cases in which ACAS Conciliation Officers were statutorily required
to intervene, 1990–91
Number of employees Percentage of Cases PRIVATE FIRMS Sole establishments 1–19 16.2 20–49 9.5 50+ 10.0 Organisations (Multiple establishments) up to 200 14.6 201—1,000 11.3 1.000+ 23.0 PUBLIC SECTOR All sizes 15.7 Source:
Data on unfair dismissal, Wages Act, sex discrimination and race discrimination cases taken from the 1992 survey of industrial tribunal applications, Employment Department, research series No. 22, 1994.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the funding that ACAS has received in each of the last five years. [19166]
§ Mr. OppenheimThe Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service received the following grant in aid for the last five years:
- 1990–91: £17,463,000
- 1991–92: £19,549,000
- 1992–93: £21,661,000
- 1993–94: £22,451,000
- 1994–95: £22,012,000