---

Employment Bill [HL]

I assure my noble friend that I am certainly on the side of 17 per cent. I am amazed that it is so little. These amendments would make a claimant’s ability to access an employment tribunal conditional on an ACAS conciliation officer or independent mediator certifying that all parties had co-operated with the conciliation procedure, a serious obstacle to justice. An unco-operative employer could prevent a claim being heard simply by refusing to engage in the conciliation process. From my previous experience, I am the first to wish to see the employers’ burden of red tape and expense being minimised, but I am also the first to seek experience. If you have an unco-operative employer, I cannot see that this system would do anything to help that fairness argument. It is possible that it might even contravene the right to a fair trial. The matter also raises practical problems; for instance, how will the independence of a mediator be assessed? Does the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, propose some kind of additional regulatory regime to determine that? I would have thought that many Members of the Committee would not wish to add to the burden of regulation on business. In the light of what I have said, I hope that the noble Lord will agree to withdraw the amendment.