Employment Bill [HL]

I thank my noble friend Lord Wedderburn for that walk through the past 100 years of mediation legislation, from Zeus to the Conciliation Act 1896 in one fell swoop. I assure him that in the Black Country they talk of little else. The amendments would in effect force people whose employment rights had been infringed to participate in some kind of conciliation or mediation process before they could bring a claim to an employment tribunal. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, for his letter, which I received this morning, setting out what he was going to say this afternoon. He stated that he was sorry that we did not reach Amendment No. 17 on the previous occasion. I, too, am sorry, and sincerely hope that we can make more productive use of time, rather than people having to wait for a long time and then finding that they are out of time to speak. The Government believe that more disputes could benefit from early mediation. Mediation has an increasingly important part to play in resolving the problems before a tribunal claim is made. We announced on 6 February that we intend to invest significant resources in ACAS’s pre-claim conciliation activities to make this service more widely available and better known. We also intend, through Clause 6, to remove time restrictions on ACAS conciliation after an employment tribunal claim has been made, to ensure that ACAS assistance is available whenever—throughout the process—the parties decide that they want it in the period before the tribunal delivers a judgment. We are also investing significantly in improving the ACAS helpline, so that more people are able to benefit from advice on the various ways of sorting out employment disputes, including, I assure the Committee, through the various, alternative dispute resolution methods. Just like the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, I was a lawyer for some 20 years. I was on the corporate side, so I never had the need to avoid litigation or tribunal hearings. That was not where I made my money every day. I often thought, ““Settle out of court? Where’s the fun in that?””. If we can make wider use of all forms of alternative dispute resolution methods that would be a very good thing. Our total investment in additional, early conciliation and improved advice services will be up to £37 million over the next three years. The Government also recognise the important contribution of other providers of mediation and ADR services in helping to settle employment disputes. They can help to resolve problems which are in their early stages, even before the point at which ACAS can offer its services. In my view that would be complementary to and accretive of what ACAS does and would not in any way substitute or undermine ACAS. They also have a role to play in raising the capacity of employers to manage their employees effectively and to deal with conflict in the workplace. We are currently working with alternative dispute resolution providers of all sorts to examine how they can best promote their services to employers. It is very important that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, understands that that is where we are coming from. In no way are we seeking to do away with any opportunity for any form of mediation before a hearing and we certainly do not wish to undermine the excellent work done by ACAS.