Written question asked by Bob Spink (Conservative) on Monday, 16 July 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 18 July 2007. It was answered by Pat McFadden (Labour) on Wednesday, 25 July 2007 on behalf of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Industrial Disputes: Mediation

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will commission research into the effect of the practice of employment tribunals not awarding costs to employees who win their cases on the (a) number of cases going to tribunal and (b) time taken by employers in assembling their cases; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: The Department has approved plans to undertake the next periodic Survey of Employment Tribunal Applications (SETA) in 2008. SETA assembles a broad range of data on ETs including costs incurred by claimants and employers involved in employment tribunal (ET) claims and their awareness of the cost regime and its impact on decisions to settle or withdraw claims. The survey cannot establish the effect of ETs not routinely awarding costs to successful claimants on potential claimants since these are not included in the survey. It is also not possible to test the impact of the counterfactual—tribunals routinely awarding costs to successful claimants. Findings from SETA 2008 will be published in the Employment Relations Research Series (ERRS) by the end of 2008. The last SETA was conducted in 2003. Results were published by the Department in 2004 as ERRS No. 33 Findings from the Survey of Employment Tribunal Applications 2003.

Secondary information