To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2007, Official Report, column 357W, what the reasons are for the reduction in funding for the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service in recent years. (152221)

BERR provided the level of funding required for ACAS to achieve its objectives. The annual budget was supplemented by Investment Funding of £15.2 million for efficiency savings for the three years from 2005-06 and Capital Funding of £1.2 million for 2005-06, £1.0 million for 2006-07, and £1.0 million for 2007-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department plans to take to offset the loss of trade for independent human resources advisers if the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service is enlarged to provide free dispute resolution services to small and medium-sized enterprises as outlined in the Success at Work consultation document; and if he will make a statement. (153439)

At present ACAS has a statutory duty in certain circumstances to provide conciliation services for employment disputes before they become tribunal claims. The Government have recently consulted on whether ACAS should be given more capacity to provide such services. The Government will publish its response to the consultation in the autumn. That response will take into account the potential impact on independent advisers of any expansion of ACAS's activity in this area.