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Small Claims Courts
38. Mr. Flight: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what arrangements he is making to publicise the transitional arrangements regarding the new procedures for small claims courts; and if he will make a statement. [87554]
Mr. Vaz: Transitional arrangements were covered in Part 51 of the Civil Procedure Rules, published on 29 January. The Civil Justice Reforms introduced on 26 April changed the way in which small claims are now handled. Defended claims are now allocated to one of three tracks; the small claims, the fast or the multi-track. All tracks were treated in the same way in terms of publicity, as they are the foundation of the new, unified civil justice system.
The Court Service took steps to inform its customers of these changes. Posters were placed in court buildings in March; information slips were sent out with every piece of outgoing mail; and people attending the court personally to issue summonses were informed of the changes. Copies of "A Court User's Guide to the Civil Justice Reforms" were available in all courts and information was also available on the Lord Chancellor's Department's website. Some local papers published an article about the reforms by the Lord Chancellor.
Legally-aided Family Mediation
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if legally-aided family mediation will be available under the provisions of the Family Law Act 1996. [88186]
Mr. Vaz:
Public funding for family mediation is provided under Part III of the Family Law Act 1996, which came into force in May 1997. The provisions of
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Part III of the Act are being implemented by means of contracts for family mediation services granted by the Legal Aid Board. A total of 140 mediation services throughout England and Wales have already been awarded contracts and a further 110 contracts will be awarded by the end of July 1999.
Mr. Kidney:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what his Department's timetable is for implementing the remaining provisions of the Family Law Act 1996. [88185]
Mr. Vaz:
I refer my hon. Friend to my written Parliamentary answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Dr. Stoate) on 17 June 1999, Official Report, column 213. No decision about implementation of Part II has been made.
Section 60 permits the making of Rules of Court to allow third parties to apply for orders under Part IV of the Act on behalf of victims of domestic violence. Detailed consultation will be needed to assess the practicality and resource implications of implementing this section of the Act. No timetable has yet been fixed for this process.
Section 64 enables the Lord Chancellor to make Regulations providing for the separate representation of children in proceedings in England and Wales under Part II, and in certain other proceedings. No decision has yet been made as to whether this should be implemented.
Mr. Hunter:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what representations he has received about the temporary arrangements for the Basingstoke Magistrates Court; and how long he expects these arrangements to be in place. [87550]
Mr. Vaz:
I have received 5 representations. Basingstoke Magistrates Court will remain temporarily closed until the building works to the adjacent police station are completed in May 2000. I must stress this closure is a temporary measure only.
Mr. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what estimate he has made of the number of people in each of the next five years who will be ineligible for legal aid who were previously eligible. [87557]
Mr. Vaz:
The financial eligibility limits are increased each year in line with other welfare benefits. While there are no formal estimates for future years, we expect that eligibility for civil legal aid will remain at or near its present level. Nothing in the Access to Justice Bill itself will change the position on financial eligibility. However, the Government intend to consult on a number of possible changes to the financial criteria. One of these would be to increase the number of people eligible for advice and assistance, to bring it back into line with that for representation in litigation.
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Mr. Casale:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when the Legal Services Ombudsman intends to publish her eighth annual report. [89292]
Mr. Vaz:
The Legal Services Ombudsman has today published her eighth Annual Report, and copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Dr. Tony Wright:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, when he expects the community legal service to be fully operational. [87546]
Mr. Vaz:
The Community Legal Service (CLS) will be established under the provisions of the Access to Justice Bill, which is still before Parliament. Our aim is that Community Legal Services will be available to the great bulk of the population of England and Wales by the beginning of 2002.
As the first step, Pioneer and Associate Pioneer partnerships are being established, as described in the Consultation Paper published on 25 May. These will be operational by the end of 1999 and will cover nearly a quarter of the population of England and Wales. In addition, as the Consultation Paper describes, the Lord Chancellor's Department aims to establish by the end of 1999 core quality criteria for accrediting advice centres to the CLS, and to launch a CLS website on the internet early in 2000.
Subsequent establishment of further partnerships will depend on assessment of the needs of, and advice delivery systems for, each area in which partnerships will operate. It will also need to take account of experience with Pioneers and Associate Pioneers. Progress will therefore depend on actions by many prospective partners, as well as by the Lord Chancellor's Department and the Legal Services Commission.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the Communities budget lines frozen following the ECJ ruling of 12 May 1998 (C-106/96); and if he will make a statement on the planned unblocking of these. [86729]
Ms Hewitt:
Following the ECJ ruling of 12 May 1998, the Commission suspended a number of budget lines which lacked, or were thought to lack, a legal basis for expenditure on the activities to which they related. Efforts were made to free up certain lines--for example, action against illegal and harmful content on the Internet--quickly, in order that the appropriations entered on these lines in the 1998 budget could continue to be accessed.
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