UK All Party Parliamentary Group for ADR
Ciarb serves as secretariat to the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for ADR, to raise awareness of the profession at central government level.
The APPG brings together Members of Parliament and Members of the House of Lords who share a common interest in ADR issues and a desire to ensure they are represented at the highest level of decision-making.
In our role as secretariat, we provide expert advice and direction to the work of the group and facilitate its engagement with stakeholders in the UK’s legal community and the wider ADR ecosystem.
We organise meetings, expert panel discussions, and other engagements for the group to examine ADR policy issues and discuss new developments or emerging issues in ADR.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the ADR APPG, please email adrappg@ciarb.org
Meetings & Engagements
APPG Report: The UK and Singapore as Global Disputes Hubs
MPs John Howell and John Spellar engaged with leading figures in UK and Singaporean dispute resolution to understand what makes a successful global disputes hub.
This report sets out their findings, together with practical proposals for dispute policies that will allow both centres to thrive.
2024
2024
March 2024
On 25th March 2024, the ADR APPG will hold its Annual General Meeting.
January 2024
On 30th January 2024, the ADR APPG met to discuss an overview of recent developments in legal services in the UK, including third party funding services in the aftermath of PACCAR case, legal tech services, and updates on the English Arbitration Act Reform Bill.
2023
2023
June 2023
On 6th November 2023, the ADR APPG met to discuss the role of ombudsman services in the UK and beyond.
2022
2022
November 2022
On 15th November 2022, the ADR APPG met to discuss the Law Commission’s Consultation on the review of the English Arbitration Act 1996.
September 2022
On the 7th September 2022, the ADR APPG met at 1 Parliament Street for a session to discuss the Ministry of Justice consultation on mandatory mediation in the civil justice system.
May 2022
On 17 May 2022, the APPG met to discuss mandatory mediation. At this session, there was a panel with four experts who briefly gave a presentation each to kickstart the discussion.
2020
2020
May 2020
The APPG held its first-ever online evidence session, ‘Land-use assembly, planning, compensation and ADR: lessons learned and next steps’.
A full recording of the session can be accessed here, and the presentation slides here.
2019
2019
October 2019
The APPG held its Annual General Meeting in Parliament to confirm its officers and fulfil its reporting requirements.
August 2019
John Howell MP and John Spellar MP (accompanied by Ciarb Director General Anthony Abrahams, Head of Policy Lewis Johnston and Regional Director Camilla Godman) led an APPG for ADR fact-finding trip to Singapore to understand how ADR operates there and how Singapore has established itself as a global disputes hub.
Highlights from the fact-finding trip include: View trip report
- Meetings with:
- Attorney-General Lucien Wong
- Chief Justice (and former Ciarb Patron) Sundaresh Menon
- Senior Minister of Law Edwin Tong
- Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Lim Biow Chuan
- British High Commissioner Kara Owen
- Chief Executive of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Seok Hui Lim
- Chairman of the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) George Lim
- A high-level business roundtable with key executives and PWC
June 2019
The APPG held an evidence session in Parliament on the topic of ‘How can Government make more use of Conflict Avoidance Boards (CABs)?
MPs and Lords took evidence from:
- Ed Spencer (Director and Head of Client Service, Arcadis)
- Christopher Miers (Managing Director, Probyn Miers)
- Les Mosco (independent consultant and Executive Director, former Commercial Director of the Ministry of Defence)
- Wolf von Kumberg (ArbDB Member and Bird & Bird Consulting Counsel, former Legal Director of Northrop Grumman Corporation)
April 2019
The APPG held an evidence session in Parliament on the topic of ‘London’s future as an international dispute resolution hub’.
View session summary of meeting
MPs took evidence from:
- Jonathan Wood (Head of International Arbitration at RPC, Ciarb Chair of the Board of Trustees)
- Jordan Cummins (CBI Senior Associate—London Policy)
- Paula Hodges QC (Head of Global Arbitration Practice at Herbert Smith Freehills and President of the LCIA Court)
- Lucy Greenwood (independent arbitrator and Ciarb Trustee)
- Audley Sheppard QC (LCIA Board Chair, Global Co-Head of International Arbitration at Clifford Chance)
2018
2018
July 2018
On 17th July 2018, the ADR APPG met to discuss how can Ombudsman services be made more effective and lessons for the housing sector.
If you would like to be added to the mailing list for future APPG sessions, please contact policy@ciarb.org
Disclaimer: This is not an official website [or feed] of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees. All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in these webpages are those of the group.