Schedule 2 - Statutory dispute resolution procedures
Employment Bill
3:15 pm
Mr Norman Lamb (North Norfolk, Liberal Democrat)
Welcome to the Chair, Mr. Conway. I am not sure whether protocol dictates that I should have welcomed you when I intervened earlier. I hope that it will be a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, although if I make to many mistakes, I may regret saying that.
Amendment No. 29 is a tidying amendment. Paragraph (2) of step 1 of the standard procedure refers to ''the statement''. Paragraph (1) of step 1 states:
''The employer must set out in writing the employee's alleged conduct or characteristics'',
but it does not refer to a statement. I am sure that the statement referred to in paragraph (2) is what the employer would have written down under paragraph (1), but it would achieve greater clarity if paragraph (1) included the words
''in the form of a statement''.
Amendment No. 30 deals with the inter-relationship between the ACAS code and the standard procedure. As the Minister said, the standard procedure sets out the minimum standards that employers must comply with—the bottom line, as it were. We believe that, as well as what is already included, the bottom line must include the principle of investigation. The standard procedure already sets out certain basic requirements. For example, there must be a meeting, and something must be set out in writing beforehand, but the procedure says nothing about the need for an employer to investigate the matter before calling the meeting. We would all agree, I am sure, that that must be a requirement of a fair procedure. It would give sensible and helpful guidance to small employers as well as large.