Mr Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk, Conservative)

I see that the Minister's new cohort of officials is moving into place. I wish each of them a good morning.

How will the certification officer interface with ACAS when the employers or employees—or the trade unions—invoke its services?

Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers), Department of Trade and Industry; Bradford South, Labour)

I will do my best to answer that. A restriction of proceedings order is an Employment Appeal Tribunal order preventing vexatious litigants from instituting further proceedings before employment tribunals or the Employment Appeal Tribunal without the permission of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Action against vexatious litigants by that tribunal is extremely rare; I believe that there have been only two cases in recent times.

Currently, the Employment Appeal Tribunal can take into account only its own proceedings, or those of an employment tribunal in considering whether to make a restriction of proceedings order. It makes sense to expand the Employment Appeal Tribunal's powers, so that any vexatious actions before the certification officer can be taken into account. It also makes sense that a restriction of proceedings order should include restricting the taking of proceedings before the certification officer. I am sure that Committee members will agree that the clause, which is a simple tidying-up measure, should form part of the Bill.

The relationship between the certification officer, ACAS and the employment tribunals is well documented. They try to resolve issues before they get to tribunal. The certification officer has a role to play in relation to the issues that come before him.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 36 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 37 and 38 ordered to stand part of the Bill.