Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2014-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many times his Department has appeared at an employment tribunal to contest protective awards in each of the last five years.

Jo Swinson

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has not appeared before an employment tribunal to contest a protective award.

Protective awards are determined by Employment Tribunals following applications made by former employees or their representatives.

BIS is sometimes joined as a respondent in protective award claims, because under legislation, the Secretary of State guarantees the payment of protective awards made in favour of employees whose employer is insolvent, up to a certain amount.

It is for the Tribunal to establish the facts in each case, considering evidence of the actions taken by employers and their representatives, and decide whether there was adequate consultation on redundancies BIS is not in a position to know the extent to which an employer or their representative consulted with employees and does not give evidence on that point nor take any particular position.

BIS’ responsibility is to establish what payments are due and who is entitled to receive them. We therefore make written representations to the tribunal on points of law or to seek clarification of who is covered by a protective award. We may appeal an award, but only if we consider that the tribunal has made the judgment based on an incorrect reading of the legislation.

The number of cases where BIS has made representations to an employment tribunal regarding protective award cases in the last 5 years is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.