---

Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many sexual discrimination cases have been brought against his Department in industrial tribunals since 1 February 1995; in how many such cases rulings were made against his Department; how much financial compensation was paid in each case; and how many cases are awaiting decision. [97668] Mr. Spellar: The information requested relating to Industrial (now Employment) Tribunal applications together with details of compensation paid is available only for applications made by serving members, or former members, of the Armed Forces, since 1996-1997 when complete records began to be kept. The information provided does not include those applications submitted by MOD civilian and former civilian staff to Employment Tribunals, for which information is not held centrally. Legal advice is taken on all cases and where a thorough and objective assessment of the case proves that there is a legal liability to pay compensation we do so. In such cases, the Ministry of Defence would hope to avoid cases proceeding to a full Tribunal hearing. My Department is currently handling 35 Employment Tribunal cases for sexual discrimination, two of which have been listed for full hearings. The following figures exclude Employment Tribunal applications from those Servicewomen who were obliged to leave the Services on grounds of pregnancy. All 5,038 of these claims received have been settled in full at a cost of £60,279,782. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number of Employment Tribunal Number of Employment Tribunal Compensation paid in period (£) applications received in period cases settled/ repudiated in period 1996-97 58 15 settled 260,000 15 repudiated 1997-98 57 16 settled 271,000 25 repudiated 1998-99 25 14 settled 425,000 20 repudiated 1999-2000{1} 12 1 settled 1,000 7 repudiated _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} To 4 November 1999

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

97668; 337 c406-7W

Session

1998-99

Subjects

Armed forces Costs Equality Employment Tribunals Service Gender Ministry of Defence

Contains statistics

Yes