§ Mr. WallerTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement about the review of the scope for agency status for the industrial tribunals mentioned in chapter 7 of the Green Paper, "Resolving Employment Rights Disputes: Options for Reform." [29131]
Mr. John M. TaylorThe Government have decided to create a new executive agency within the Department of Trade and Industry to provide the administrative support to the industrial tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal with effect from 1 April 1997. The change to agency status will not affect the tribunal judiciary, who will remain independent of the Executive.
Creating an executive agency will help the tribunals to build on the improvements they have been making over recent years and allow a stronger focus on performance. This will be important in order to deal with an increasing caseload and to improve the quality of service to tribunal users.