Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when and why they made the decision to stop publishing annual statistical information, including raw data percentages and outcomes, on employment tribunal and employment appeal tribunal cases.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly statistical data on employment tribunals and summary data for employment tribunal appeal cases. The latest statistics can be found at the following link:
Detailed statistics on employment appeal tribunal cases are still published annually but no longer released as a standalone publication. They are included within annual tables published in September each year alongside the Tribunal Statistics Quarterly Bulletin. The latest statistics can be found at the following link in the spreadsheet named Employment and EAT tribunal statistics: 2013 to 2014.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2014
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy and effectiveness of sentencing in cases where football fans have been found guilty of racially or religiously aggravated public order offences; and whether they will consider providing advice to the magistracy in response to any evidence revealing that magistrates are reluctant to issue football banning orders in such cases.
Answered by Lord Faulks
Racially and religiously aggravated offences have no place in our society. Parliament has provided the courts with the necessary powers to deal effectively with those who are convicted of these serious offences. The court must make a football banning order where an offender has been convicted of a relevant offence and it is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that making a banning order would help prevent violence or disorder at, or in connection with, any regulated football matches. If the court is not so satisfied, it must state that fact and give reasons in open court. The prosecution has a right of appeal against a failure by the court to make a banning order.
Relevant offences for these purposes include chanting of an indecent or racialist nature at a designated football match, and specified offences under the Public Order Act 1986 committed during a period relevant to a football match, which covers the period beginning two hours before the match and ending one hour after the match, at any premises while the offender was at, or entering or leaving or trying to enter or leave, the premises.
We are not aware of any evidence to suggest that the magistracy are reluctant to make football banning orders, and decisions of the magistrates are made with the assistance of legal advisers who refer to current sentencing guidelines.