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Mr. Streeter: The hon. Gentleman is right. It is not true in the wider context of the report, which will of course take far greater resourcing to implement. Those resources are being and will be made available for training and information technology. The figure that the hon. Gentleman read out refers to the unified rule committee, which the Bill is all about, but I assure him that we will adequately resource this important and radical new system.
I mentioned earlier that the Bill paves the way for the reforms, rather than containing all those reforms. Given that, I shall set out briefly what it seeks to do.
The Bill's primary purpose is to provide for a unified set of rules of court. Those rules will govern the practice and procedure to be adopted in civil litigation in the High Court and the county courts--and, in relation to appeals, in the civil division of the Court of Appeal. Clause 1 therefore provides for the necessary rule-making powers. Those new rules, to be known as the civil procedure rules, will replace the existing supreme court rules and county court rules. The stated aim of the exercise of the rule-making powers is to secure that the civil justice system is accessible, fair and efficient.
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The first draft of the new general rules was released with Lord Woolf's report and we have received more than 100 responses as part of the consultation procedure. Careful consideration will be given to all the responses received as the Lord Chancellor and the rule committee make progress towards finalising the draft rules.
Schedule 1 adds detail to the rule-making powers conferred by clause 1. It restates the present broad powers of the existing rule committees and expands them in some respects. It deals, for example, with the power to make rules regarding the delegated exercise of jurisdiction and with the powers regarding modifications of rules of evidence. It enables rules to be made for piloting new procedures.
Clause 2 sets out that the new rules are to be made by the civil procedure rule committee, whose membership is provided for. The balance of interests on the committee that is now provided for in the Bill represents a sensible compromise between allowing those with a stake in the system a voice on the committee and ensuring that the committee is of workmanlike size. Clause 2 also provides that the rule committee must consult before making rules, that it must meet when discussing rule changes and that it must make rules that are simple and simply expressed.
Clause 3 sets out that civil procedure rules are to be subject to the negative resolution procedure. The House will wish to know that, during the passage of the Bill in the other place, the Government gave an undertaking to provide for a debate in both Houses on the new unified code of rules, once they have been drafted, but before they are formally presented for approval, to enable Parliament's views to be reflected in the final rules.
Clause 4(1) enables the Lord Chancellor to make consequential amendments to other enactments where that is necessary or desirable in consequence of the rules made. That power is to be subject to the negative resolution procedure. Clause 4(2) will ensure that, before any rule is made that would override an existing enactment, that enactment must be amended, repealed or revoked by an order, and that the order will attract the affirmative resolution procedure.
Clause 5 provides that county court practice directions should be subject to the approval of the Lord Chancellor, or someone authorised to act on his behalf. It is intended that the Vice-Chancellor would fulfil that function. The clause also sets out that practice directions can be made concerning the transfer of proceedings and that practice directions may be made for specific courts or specific types of proceedings.
The Civil Justice Council is established by clause 6. The Government have listened carefully to the views that have been expressed following Lord Woolf's recommendations on the establishment of such a council. We accept that it can assist the success of the civil justice reforms and provide useful advice relevant to keeping the system under review.
Clause 7 arises from the decision following a recommendation made by the Judges Council that the Anton Piller jurisdiction should be put on a statutory footing. Until now, Anton Piller orders have been developed by the courts under their inherent jurisdiction. They order a person to permit entry to premises for the purpose of finding or safeguarding evidence that is needed for civil proceedings. The clause does not intend to alter the basis for those orders, but will replace the inherent basis on which courts currently grant them.
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Clause 8 provides the power for the Lord Chancellor to extend the circumstances in which the courts have power to order the disclosure of documents before legal proceedings. The clause is intended to give effect to Lord Woolf's recommendation that the power to order pre-action disclosure should be widened from the present power that pertains only to claims in respect of personal injuries and death.
Mr. Paul Boateng (Brent, South):
The Bill, though rightly described as modest in size, is great in its significance and in its potential impact on our civil justice system and its procedures, but perhaps even more importantly, its culture. Looking around at the limited number of Conservative, Labour and Liberal Members present, I notice a great and almost overwhelming preponderance of those with a professional interest in the matter. It would be tempting to conclude from that that the matter is largely technical and that the Bill is of interest only to lawyers, but when one considers the Woolf report, which led to the Bill, and when one examines the Bill, its significance is revealed as being altogether wider.
The Bill is about justice that is delivered in an assessable way, is affordable, and is delivered in plain simple language and in procedures which reflect that. Importantly, it is also about putting into place pathways which present an opportunity for alternative dispute resolution, so in terms of its impact it is much more than simply a matter of interest to lawyers. It is of interest to all people who have a dispute and a grievance that should be settled--all those who are all too often deterred by expense and delay from pursuing legitimate causes.
We must approach the Bill in the spirit of seeking to find a way that will deliver access to a civil justice system that our citizens, who look to the House for a lead and for their interests to be represented, can afford. It ill behoves the Government to describe the measure as their first shot--the words used by the Minister--in a war to promote affordable and more easily accessible civil justice whose procedures are less obscure than at present. That first shot has been fired within weeks of the end of the Government and after years of neglect of a system that has become increasingly expensive and riven with delay.
Court staff are increasingly stretched, morale is low and they are hard pressed to deliver justice. The Government have fired their first shot within days of an increase in fees that has effectively priced justice beyond the reach of many of our citizens. The Bill cannot be divorced from that background. In the debate and in Committee we shall pursue the Government because of their failure to underpin the Bill with practical measures that will deliver justice.
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The Government have gone against both the spirit and the letter of Lord Woolf's report because they have failed to address the issue of cost. Despite all advice and warnings to the contrary, they have engaged in an insistent drive to make the courts self-financing. The Bill will not pave the way for the reforms that we all seek in civil justice because the court fees system prices justice beyond the reach of the ordinary citizen.
Lord Woolf said in his report, which was published in July, that as part of the review of court fees the position of a litigant of modest means should be protected from the undue impact of increased court fees. Lord Woolf's work forms the basis for the Bill, but without consulting or giving the House the opportunity to debate the measures the Government laid statutory instruments to increase court fees. That is totally unacceptable, and we have prayed against that increase so that we can have the opportunity to debate it.
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