Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether his Department offers protection to staff from unfair dismissal from their first working day.

All dismissals are handled in line with current legislation and appropriate Codes of Practice. Where an employee feels they may have been unfairly dismissed, appropriate internal appeal routes may be instigated.

Where an employee is unable to solve a problem internally they may be able to go to an employment tribunal to claim unfair dismissal, as set out in legislation.

This position will be reviewed when unfair dismissal rights are updated in line with proposals in the Employment Rights Bill.