Employment Tribunals Service

Grant Shapps
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many actions under employment law were brought against his Department in each of the last three years, broken down by category of action; and how many were contested by the Department at an employment tribunal.

Mr. Hoon
[holding answer 14 May 2009]: The total number of employment law actions brought against the Department for Transport in each of the last three years is broken down by category in the following table:

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|       |Category                 |Number of actions|
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|2006-07|Unfair dismissal         |5                |
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|       |                         |                 |
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|2007-08|Disability discrimination|6                |
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|       |Unfair dismissal         |12               |
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|       |                         |                 |
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|2008-09|Disability discrimination|7                |
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|       |Race discrimination      |6                |
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|       |Sex discrimination       |6                |
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|       |Constructive dismissal   |5                |
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In addition, a further 31 claims were brought against the Department during 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09. These cases have not been broken down further by category in order to protect the confidentiality of the persons concerned.

Overall, 12 cases were contested and decided at a full hearing of the Employment Tribunal.

18,600 people are employed by the Department for Transport and its agencies.