Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of expanding the right to accompaniment at disciplinary or grievance hearings to persons other than trade union officials or other workers on minority groups and equality outcomes.

The current legal framework on the right to be accompanied has been in place for a long time. The framework aims to keep disciplinary and grievance procedures internal to the workplace. Expanding the types of organisations that could be involved in representing workers at discipline and grievance meetings could lead to these meetings requiring legal representation for both the worker and employer. This would invariably increase the cost of holding a hearing, add complexity and delays, and decrease the chance of amicable resolution as both parties become entrenched in a dispute.