Part 2: Courts, tribunals and coroners Chapter 3: Employment Tribunals Section 35: Composition of tribunals
This section replaces the existing provisions defining the composition of an ET and the EAT with new arrangements that make the Lord Chancellor responsible for regulating the composition of the ET and the EAT.
	Subsections (1) to (4) amend the 1996 Act to provide for these new arrangements, replacing sections 4 and 28 of the 1996 Act (concerning ETs and the EAT respectively) with new sections, and making minor consequential amendments.
	Subsection (1) is introductory and provides for the 1996 Act to be amended as provided by the following subsections.
	Subsection (2) substitutes for section 4 of the 1996 Act, containing the existing provisions on the composition of ETs, a new section 4 containing new arrangements.
	Subsection (1) of the new section 4 establishes the basic proposition that an employment tribunal is to be composed of a member or members chosen by the Senior President of Tribunals; subsection (2) requires members to be so chosen to belong to a panel that is appointed in accordance with regulations made under section 1(1) of the Act (regulations establishing employment tribunals); subsection (3) provides that the Senior President of Tribunals (or anyone to whom the Senior President of Tribunals has delegated the function of choosing members) must choose members in accordance with regulations made by the Lord Chancellor under subsection (4) and that the Senior President of Tribunals or such delegate may choose themselves if they are eligible by virtue of regulations made under section 1(1); subsection (4) requires the Lord Chancellor to make regulations providing for the number of members composing an ET panel for every category of case which may come before an ET; and subsection (5) provides that where regulations under subsection (4) provide for a panel to be made up of one member, they must provide for that member to be an Employment Judge.(to prevent a non-legal member from sitting alone). Subsection (6) requires regulations that provide for panels to be composed of more than one member to provide that at least one member must be an employment judge, to provide for the numbers of employment judges and other members for each category of case, and to provide for the qualifications which non-judge members of a panel must have for each category of case. Subsection (7) allows for a duty under subsections (4) and (6) to make provision for determining something to be met by providing for that thing to be determined by the Senior President of Tribunals or the President of Employment Tribunals in accordance with provision in the regulations; subsection (8) similarly allows for the requirement to specify qualifications in subsection (6)(c) to be met by giving the Senior President of Tribunals or the President of Employment Tribunals the power to determine those requirements in accordance with provision in the regulations. Subsection (9) permits an ET comprised of more than one member to proceed in the absence of one or more members, as long as a) the parties to the case agree and b) at least one of the remaining members is an Employment Judge; and subsection (10) permits an ET to proceed even where a member does not have the required qualification if the parties agree. Subsection (11) places a duty on the Lord Chancellor to consult the Senior President of Tribunals before making regulations on the composition of ETs; and subsection (12) makes provision for interpretation.
	Subsection (3) similarly substitutes for section 28 of the 1996 Act, containing the existing provisions on the composition of the EAT, with a new section 28 containing new arrangements. The new section 28 mirrors for the EAT the provision for ETs made by the new section 4.
	Subsection (4) makes amendments consequential on the substitution of the new sections 4 and 28, to ensure that cross-references to those sections operate correctly.