Final Report of the Morris Inquiry: The Case for Change

PEOPLE ISSUES
profile, case where the relationship between the individual and the MPS has
broken down to such an extent that internal mediation would not be a serious
proposition and that, therefore, external mediation should be tried in an effort to
resolve the issue.
“… I am conscious that we keep talking about police culture, but the police culture is not
particularly amenable to outside interference, if I can put it in that way, so I think the long
answer to your short question is that there might be some resistance to ACAS or any other
external mediator coming in and trying to mediate a solution, but if it had appropriate support
at an appropriate level within the organisation, I am sure you could make it work.”
(Evidence of Michael McAndrew, Secretary, MPS branch, PSAEW.)
4.104 It has also been suggested to us that a dedicated unit of mediators could be
established within the MPS:
“Following the high profile nature of the Virdi case the IAG recommended that a new unit be
established that would act as a specialist unit to ‘troubleshoot’ and provide mediation and
restorative justice approaches to grievance cases.”
(Submission from the Independent Advisory Group.)
We are not persuaded that formation of such a unit is necessary.
We recommend that mediators should be brought together on a regular basis
to share experience and refresh their knowledge of common developments in
mediation techniques.
We recommend that the MPS reviews its use of mediation to provide
appropriate training to its officers and staff and to encourage its use
throughout the grievance process in appropriate cases.
4.105 ACAS’ formal involvement as a mediator in the Employment Tribunal process
is acknowledged by section 18(7) of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996. This
provides that nothing communicated to a conciliation officer in the course of the
mediation process is admissible in evidence before an Employment Tribunal if that
process is unsuccessful. Our attention has been drawn to the fact that, in the
absence of a similar specific statutory provision in relation to grievance procedures,
any notes or statements arising from the mediation process are disclosable in
subsequent Employment Tribunal proceedings and any admission or apology could
be relied upon in those proceedings.
4.106 Although this can act as a disincentive to engage in mediation, we do not
believe the issue to be fatal to the introduction of mediation and highlight the practice
drawn to our attention by Mr Hamilton, the MPS’ Director of Legal Services, of:
“… other employers who operate workplace mediation schemes have a rule of ‘no notes’ as a
mechanism of providing some protection and encouraging parties to participate fully in the
89