Clause 27 - Practice directions
Employment Bill
9:30 am
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 41, in page 34, line 20, at end insert—
'(2A) Where employment tribunal procedure regulations include provisions enabling the President to make directions about the procedure of employment tribunals they shall also include provision requiring the President to consult with such users and representatives of users of the employment tribunals as appear to him to be appropriate before making such directions'.
The amendment would require that, where employment tribunal procedure regulations include provision to enable the president to make directions about procedure, they should also require the president to consult representatives of users of the tribunal service. I understand that tribunal user groups are established in all tribunal regions in England and Wales, so bodies are available to be consulted.
I hope that what I propose is not controversial. In the past couple of years I have been used to dealing with health and social services Bills in Standing Committee. Most, if not all, of those Bills have from the outset included provisions—which are not terribly onerous—requiring the Secretary of State to consult those who appear to him to be relevant, before issuing the orders in question. That approach is at least a gesture towards open government and an attempt to take into account the properly expressed views and interests of those likely to be affected by an order. It goes some way towards dealing with a problem that we have with respect to the practice directions.
The principle of practice directions can be discussed on clause stand part. However, the Minister will appreciate that, while the Opposition have a natural concern about secondary legislation, which does not receive the same scrutiny as primary legislation, the practice directions are tertiary legislation. Once the regulation to allow practice directions has been debated here, the directions themselves will not be subjected to parliamentary scrutiny. It is therefore important to ensure that, in making such directions, the president takes account of the legitimate views of user groups and others who will be affected by them.
I am prepared to concede that the matter in question can properly be dealt with in regulations. However, once again, the architecture of the Bill forces the Opposition to explore issues by way of an amendment. I hope that the amendment will enable the Minister to provide a categorical assurance that the regulations
will include a requirement for the president to undertake consultation before issuing a practice direction.