Clause 22 - Employment tribunals

Part of Employment Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:30 am on 11 December 2001.

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Photo of Philip Hammond Philip Hammond Shadow Spokesperson (Trade and Industry) 10:30, 11 December 2001

I am interested to hear that the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) is a member of the Law Society. I trust that he was not responsible for drafting the amendments that it proposed, which the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues originally tabled verbatim, but I shall say a little more about that later.

I am not suggesting that the drafting of the amendment is perfect or that the amendment is all-embracing; it may not be, but it has been tabled to explore the Minister's intentions. It is customary for Ministers to accept that an amendment raises a good point, even though it is not perfect, and to agree to introduce something similar on Report. I was hoping to hear something similar from the Minister today.

The hon. Member for North Norfolk raised a point, as did the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West, about the impact of the amendment on paid representatives. I acknowledge that it would constitute an additional sanction against paid representatives and I understand the concern of the hon. Member for North Norfolk that it might fall foul of the Human Rights Act 1998. However, I suspect that those who drafted that Act did not imagine that it would prevent vexatious lawyers from appearing in courts whose procedures they abused.

I accept the hon. Gentleman's concern and assert again that, however imperfect the drafting, the amendment's purpose is to explore how the Government intend to deal with vexatious or improper conduct by non-remunerated representatives. If the provision is to be even-handed, it must deal with both lawyers and unpaid representatives—such as union representatives, citizens advice bureau advisers or officials of employers federations—who abuse the tribunal process or otherwise act inappropriately. It is perfectly reasonable to raise the issue, and the Minister needs to have an answer.

I was surprised to hear the Minister say that tribunals were not appropriate bodies to pass judgment on the conduct of representatives. Surely,

that is precisely what they are being asked to do in clause 22, which allows them to make an award of costs against paid representatives on account of their conduct of the proceedings. The tribunal is, therefore, clearly considered an appropriate body to pass judgment on the conduct of a representative. It has a remedy in the case of unacceptable conduct on the part of a paid representative, but not an unpaid representative.