§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish the feasibility study carried out by his Department into industrial tribunals and employment appeal tribunals; and if he will make a statement. [35896]
Mr. John M. TaylorThe most recent review in this area followed the commitment in the Green Paper "Resolving Employment Rights Disputes: Options for Reform" (December 1994 Cm 2707) to review the scope for agency status, in consultation with the presidents of the tribunals. It would not be appropriate to publish this assessment and advice to Ministers. However, the main areas covered were
the scope for extending to the tribunals administration the benefits of improved efficiency and quality of service achieved by other next steps agencies;in this context, the particular benefits of great devolution of managerial responsibility in an area of administration which has expanded considerably in recent years;the importance of ensuring that agency arrangements for administrative staff effectively underpin the independence of the industrial tribunals, in England and Wales and in Scotland, and the Employment Appeal Tribunal, as distinct judicial bodies; the constitution of a DTI steering board, to advise Ministers and support the chief executive on strategy development;As I announced in reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (Mr. Waller) on 9 May 1996, Official Report, column 216, the Government have concluded that the establishment of the tribunals administrative support as an agency would be beneficial, and should be introduced by 1 April 1997.