Clause 22 - Employment tribunals
Employment Bill
10:30 am
Mr Alan Johnson (Minister of State (Employment and the Regions), Department of Trade and Industry; Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, Labour)
That is true and I was coming to that, but the amendment would primarily introduce another form of sanction against the representatives that we have cited—those who charge for their services. The tribunal chairman has the power to ensure that proceedings before the tribunal are dealt with justly and expeditiously, but it is not for the tribunal to act as a regulatory body for bad representatives, paid or unpaid. It would be inappropriate for a tribunal chairman to pass judgment about the potential bad behaviour of representatives by prohibiting them from representing clients in employment tribunals in future, which would be the effect of the amendment. The chairman's powers should be limited to the proceedings before the tribunal.
We must also bear in mind the important point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West. He started to receive a little sympathy from Labour Members, but we have recovered from that in the intervening few days. He raised an important point about the risk of undermining the self-regulation of the legal profession. The fact that a representative has been the subject of a wasted costs order should be sufficient deterrent against further bad behaviour. It would be a foolish representative who persisted in behaviour that cost money rather than made money.
I am satisfied that the new provisions in respect of representatives will deter poor conduct, as well as ensuring that wronged parties are properly compensated for their loss. The same arguments apply to the employment appeals tribunal, to which amendment No. 21 relates, and I ask the hon. Gentleman to withdraw the amendment.