Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the (a) trends in the number and (b) effectiveness of the use of protected conversations since their introduction.

The introduction of ‘pre-termination negotiations’ or ‘protected conversations’ in July 2013, provided greater flexibility to the existing arrangements, for employers to have conversations with employees, with a view to ending their employment (even where no employment dispute exists), that can be treated as confidential.

By their very nature, these conversations are not recorded and may only be disclosed in an employment tribunal to prove improper behaviour.