Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reforming the grievance and complaints process in employment claims to mandate mediation.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has not made a decision to introduce mandatory mediation in Employment Tribunal claims. We are continuing to explore and assess the potential merits of options to utilise more mediation and alternative dispute resolution in the context of the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress her Department has made on the establishment of the gambling ombudsman.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are looking at options for improving Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provision for customers, including the establishment of a gambling ombudsman. The Minister for Gambling will confirm our plans in due course.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with local authorities on reducing the time taken to appeal an EHCP decision.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Whilst most education, health and care plans and assessments are agreed without recourse to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Tribunal, some families struggle to get the support they need when they need it.
The department continues to work across government, with local authorities and the Tribunal to understand why appeals may take a long time to be resolved and what support we can give local authorities to improve decision-making. As an initial step, last year we jointly delivered eight training sessions on ‘SEND and the law’ for local authority SEND caseworkers to improve their knowledge of the law and help ensure that decisions are legally compliant.
The Tribunal is taking steps to reduce the time that families wait for a decision on their appeal. It has recruited and trained over 70 new judges who are now hearing appeals. It has also expanded the remit of Judicial Alternative Dispute Resolution (JDAR) to determine all ‘Section I (name of school)’ appeals and recently announced a rule change to allow for judicial discretion to determine whether more appeals can be heard on paper. The use of JDAR and paper hearings reduces the need for full oral hearings and therefore the time families wait for decisions.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what routes of recourse exists for writers whose work has been uploaded as pirated material to a database without their consent or knowledge of the authors (a) against the database owners and (b) against any corporations or third parties that have used that database.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government is committed to ensuring a fair and balanced IP system and the protection of IP rights. The UK has a robust framework in place to protect IP rights, which includes both civil and criminal enforcement measures.
Right owners can report IP crime by contacting Trading Standards. They may also consider alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, like mediation, or taking legal action before courts.
With respect to online databases, the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002 requires platforms to disable or remove IP infringing content that they become aware of or risk legal action.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to assess the consistency of SEND policy implementation in secondary schools; and what mechanisms exist to hold schools accountable where legal duties towards neurodivergent pupils are not being met.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department’s expectations for high quality, inclusive education are enforced through inspection by Ofsted. Ofsted’s proposed new framework for inspection of education settings will be informed by their public consultation, which closed on 28 April and includes a stronger focus on children with additional needs including neurodiverse children. We will continue to work with Ofsted to consider how their framework can best ensure continuous improvement in outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision. The framework is scheduled for implementation from autumn 2025.
There are several routes of redress available to parents, or children and young people with SEND, who disagree with a decision made by a school. First, they can complain informally or formally to the school. If they remain unhappy, they can complain to their local authority or multi-academy trust. They can also request to use their local authority’s dispute resolution service or lodge an appeal with the First Tier SEND Tribunal, if they feel that their child has been discriminated against on grounds of their disability.
We continue to ensure that local and regional delivery includes the voice of children and young people, parents/carers and the SEND sector. We are funding 153 local authority Parent Carer Forums, helping families to navigate the SEND system through the Contact national helpline support and advice service, and funding the training and support of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information and Advice Support Service (SENDIASS) staff.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring airlines operating in UK airports to be members of the Civil Aviation Authority approved alternative dispute resolution scheme.
Answered by Mike Kane
Air passenger rights remain a priority, and the Department will continue to consider opportunities to ensure passengers are provided with the highest level of protection possible.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to manage the potential impact of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 on future trends in litigation on telecommunications infrastructure installation.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 (“the 2022 Act”) introduced specific measures affecting applications to the courts on telecoms matters. These included a requirement for operators to inform landowners of the availability of alternative dispute resolution and to consider using it before issuing legal proceedings. This is intended to reduce costs and litigation.
DSIT is working with counterparts in the Ministry of Justice to understand the impacts of the changes made by the 2022 Act, including measures to transfer the jurisdiction for cases currently dealt with by the county court to the First-tier Tribunal or the Upper Tribunal.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on the proposal to deliver a gambling ombudsman, as set out in the White Paper High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age, published 27 April 2023.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We continue to explore options for improving Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), including the establishment of a gambling ombudsman. We are working closely with all stakeholders in the sector to deliver on this, including the BGC, the Gambling Commission, existing ADR providers and the Ombudsman Association. Further steps will be outlined in due course.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent steps her Department has taken to help prevent unlawful access refusals into business premises for customers who require a guide dog.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Equality Act 2010 provides strong protection to disabled people with guide dogs in a range of settings, including when accessing business premises. It is highly likely that access refusals will be unlawful and strong remedies are available to disabled people who have experienced this and wish to enforce the law.
A person who feels discriminated against may contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), a Government-funded helpline, which is the initial point of contact for anyone with discrimination concerns. The EASS provides free bespoke advice and in-depth support to individuals with discrimination concerns. It also supports individuals to resolve issues using alternative informal dispute resolution and can advise on next steps when someone feels discriminated against. The EASS can also advise people who wish to take their complaint further, and can be contacted through their website at www.equalityadvisoryservice.com, by telephone on 0808 800 0082 or text phone on 0808 800 0084.
Additionally, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance for businesses on their obligations under the 2010 Act - “Assistance dogs, a guide for all businesses” available at: www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/assistance-dogs-guide-businesses-and-service-providers
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating her Department's guidance for local transport authorities to require them to have an alternative dispute resolution when franchising services.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport published guidance to local authorities on tendering for road passenger transport contracts in 2013. This included advice on dispute resolution. There are no plans to revise that guidance because there are no specific rules or requirements for tendering or awarding bus contracts in buses legislation. It is for individual franchising authorities to determine the appropriate dispute resolution process when tendering or awarding local service contracts.