Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of limiting worker's companions in (a) disciplinary and (b) grievance hearings on non-trade union member workers.

Existing legislation aims to keep disciplinary and grievance procedures internal to the workplace. Expanding the right to be accompanied to professional bodies, including legal professionals, may reduce the prospects of amicable resolution, potentially increasing employment tribunals and therefore legal costs for all parties.

The law already provides that workers are entitled to bring a companion who is either a colleague, an official employed by a trade union, or a workplace trade union representative. Employers can allow workers to be accompanied by a companion outside of this scope and some workers may already have a contractual right to do so.