Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of US steel tariffs on (a) finished and (b) semi-finished steel derivative products.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Department for Business and Trade is working closely with the UK’s steel and aluminium industries to anticipate and assess the potential impacts of the US tariffs on UK exports, and we continue to engage closely with affected industries.

We have committed up to £2.5 billion to rebuild the steel sector and recently welcomed the Trade Remedies Authority’s (TRA) urgent review of the Steel Safeguard. We are also discussing what interventions might be similarly required to protect the Aluminium sector from any harmful effects of trade deflection UK-US trade teams will continue to have constructive discussions to agree a UK-US economic prosperity deal in the coming weeks and beyond.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of US aluminium tariffs on (a) finished and (b) semi-finished aluminium derivative products.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Department for Business and Trade is working closely with the UK’s steel and aluminium industries to anticipate and assess the potential impacts of the US tariffs on UK exports, and we continue to engage closely with affected industries.

We have committed up to £2.5 billion to rebuild the steel sector and recently welcomed the Trade Remedies Authority’s (TRA) urgent review of the Steel Safeguard. We are also discussing what interventions might be similarly required to protect the Aluminium sector from any harmful effects of trade deflection UK-US trade teams will continue to have constructive discussions to agree a UK-US economic prosperity deal in the coming weeks and beyond.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of US tariffs on (a) finished and (b) semi-finished (i) steel and (ii) aluminium derivative products on manufacturing jobs.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Department for Business and Trade is working closely with the UK’s steel and aluminium industries to anticipate and assess the potential impacts of the US tariffs on UK exports, and we continue to engage closely with affected industries.

We have committed up to £2.5 billion to rebuild the steel sector and recently welcomed the Trade Remedies Authority’s (TRA) urgent review of the Steel Safeguard. We are also discussing what interventions might be similarly required to protect the Aluminium sector from any harmful effects of trade deflection UK-US trade teams will continue to have constructive discussions to agree a UK-US economic prosperity deal in the coming weeks and beyond.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with manufacturers on the potential impact of US tariffs on (a) finished and (b) semi-finished aluminium derivative products.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Department for Business and Trade is working closely with the UK’s steel and aluminium industries to anticipate and assess the potential impacts of the US tariffs on UK exports, and we continue to engage closely with affected industries.

We have committed up to £2.5 billion to rebuild the steel sector and recently welcomed the Trade Remedies Authority’s (TRA) urgent review of the Steel Safeguard. We are also discussing what interventions might be similarly required to protect the Aluminium sector from any harmful effects of trade deflection UK-US trade teams will continue to have constructive discussions to agree a UK-US economic prosperity deal in the coming weeks and beyond.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had recent discussions with his US counterpart on reducing VAT on US firms exporting to the UK.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

DBT Secretary of State and officials continue to hold regular and productive conversations with the Trump administration to press the case for UK business interests. We’re prioritising engagement with the US to stand up for our national interests.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Employment Tribunal cases had been outstanding for more than 12 months in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

A case may be outstanding for many reasons, often driven by the behaviour and choices of the parties. HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not hold information on the number of outstanding cases for more than 12 months.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many judicial vacancies there were in the Employment Tribunal system on 31 March 2025; and what steps she is taking to fill those vacancies.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We are maintaining investment in the annual recruitment of around 1,000 judges and tribunal members across all jurisdictions. Annual recruitment requirements are determined by business need and judicial departures.

Recruitment for up to 36 salaried Employment Tribunal judges commenced in March 2025. 50 new fee paid employment judges were appointed in 2024, and recruitment will commence for a further 50 in early 2026. Additionally, recruitment is planned in 2025 for two regional leadership judges and 150 non-legal tribunal members.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the average cost to the public purse of administering an Employment Tribunal claim.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The estimated operational cost of disposing of a case within the Employment Tribunal was estimated at £2,522 per case in 23-24, the last full financial year for which figures are available.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Employment Tribunal claims were submitted in each of the last five years; and what proportion of those were resolved within six months.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The number of Employment Tribunal claims submitted in each of the last 5 years can be found on www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not hold information on the number of cases submitted in the last 5 years that were resolved within 6 months, but we do hold data on the number of disposals and the number of sitting days used. Sitting day data has been published in the quarterly Tribunal statistics up to the period 2023/24. The disposal rate can be acquired by dividing the number of disposed cases by the number of sitting days. For the Employment Tribunal, the disposal rate for 2023/24 is therefore 0.99 disposals per sitting day; and for EAT for the same period, is 0.89 disposals per sitting day.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) judges and (b) other people were employed in the Employment Tribunal by HM Courts and Tribunals Service in each of the last five years; and what proportion of those roles were vacant in that time period.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The number of judges and members of tribunals is published annually in the ‘Diversity of the Judiciary’ statistics. Headcount figures can be found at the tabs named “3_2_JO_Area”.

• 2020: diversity-of-the-judiciary-2020-data-tables.ods

• 2021: diversity-of-the-judiciary-2021-data-tables.ods

• 2022: Judicial_diversity_2022_Tables.ods

• 2023: 2023_JDS_tables.ods

• 2024: JDS_2024_tables_-_FINAL_v3.ods

We are maintaining investment in the annual recruitment of about 1,000 judges and non-legal tribunal members across all jurisdictions. Annual recruitment requirements for judicial and non-legal tribunal members are determined by business need and judicial departures.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service has recorded Employment Tribunal staff (including legal caseworker) headcount in December each year as follows between 2020 and 2024:

Staff vacancies in the Employment Tribunal over this period are not held centrally. Recruitment requirements for HMCTS staff and legal officers in the Employment Tribunal is determined in response to business need and staff departures.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; Rachel Blake; Chris

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; Rachel Blake; Chris

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; Rachel Blake; Chris

Found: Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan John Grady Bradley Thomas Sir Desmond Swayne John Glen Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan John Grady Bradley Thomas Sir Desmond Swayne John Glen Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan John Grady Bradley Thomas Sir Desmond Swayne John Glen Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan John Grady Bradley Thomas Sir Desmond Swayne John Glen Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: Jess Asato Kirsteen Sullivan John Grady Bradley Thomas Sir Desmond Swayne John Glen Dame Harriett Baldwin