Skip to main content

Departmental Mediation

Volume 485: debated on Thursday 11 December 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many mediations his Department has participated in since its establishment; (240426)

(2) who was appointed as lead negotiator in each of the mediations in which his Department has participated since the establishment of his Department;

(3) how much his Department has spent on alternative dispute resolution including mediation on (a) training provided by external providers including the Treasury Solicitor's Department, (b) subscriptions to related instruction and (c) facilitation fees; and to whom such payments have been made since the establishment of his Department;

(4) what training and guidance on alternative dispute resolution including mediation has been (a) published on his Department's intranet and (b) otherwise provided to those of his Department's staff who are involved in resolving disputes in which his Department is a party.

The Ministry of Justice is involved in number of different forms of mediation. These may be internal resolution of conflict for members of staff or alternatives to court activity. The Ministry of Justice does not maintain a record of the number of cases where mediation has been used. However, we are aware of at least 10 mediations conducted since May 2007 when the Ministry of Justice was established.

The Ministry of Justice does not maintain a record of facilitation fees. Members of the Department's legal team attend such training courses as are necessary, although we have no specific record of the expenditure on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) training. Members of the Department's legal team may also attend the ADR awareness sessions run by the Treasury Solicitor's Department.

The Ministry of Justice also has a number of trained workplace mediators who deal with issues involving disputes between employees. Training and guidance on alternative dispute resolution is not published on the Ministry of Justice's intranet.