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Rural Magistrates Courts

42. Mr. Paterson: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on the work of rural magistrates courts. [126378]

Jane Kennedy: There is no difference in the work of magistrates courts in either a rural or urban location. All magistrates courts have the same criminal jurisdiction.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave him on 25 January 2000, Official Report, column 180W. Magistrates courts are best managed locally by the relevant magistrates courts committee under the provisions of the Justices of the Peace Act 1997.

County Court Fees

43. Mr. Brady: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what meetings he has had with the Law Society to discuss the level of county court fees. [126379]

Mr. Lock: I have had no meetings with the Law Society to discuss the level of county courts fees, and there has been no request for such a meeting.

Solicitors (Supervision Office)

Ms Coffey: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the performance of the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors. [126369]

Mr. Lock: We have a number of concerns about the ability of the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors to meet the casework targets that the Lord Chancellor expects them to achieve, in particular in relation to the quality of adjudication and the turnaround times. However, we acknowledge that some progress has been made in reducing the backlog of outstanding cases since August 1999. We will continue closely to monitor their performance against the targets and timetable agreed by the Lord Chancellor.

Interactive Voice Response Systems

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many agencies of the Lord Chancellor's Department use interactive voice response systems when dealing with telephone inquiries from the general public. [127554]

Jane Kennedy: No agencies of the Lord Chancellor's Department use interactive voice response systems when dealing with telephone inquiries from the general public.

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many departmental telephone lines used by the general public are responded to by interactive voice response systems. [127406]

Mr. Lock: The headquarters of the Lord Chancellor's Department does not use any interactive voice response systems.

27 Jun 2000 : Column: 493W

Written Questions

Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many written parliamentary questions were tabled to his Department between 19 October 1999 and 20 April; and how many have not received substantive answers for reasons of disproportionate cost. [127682]

27 Jun 2000 : Column: 494W

Mr. Lock [holding answer 26 June 2000]: In the relevant period, 345 parliamentary questions were tabled to the Lord Chancellor's Department for written answer. Of these, 11 parliamentary questions did not receive a substantive answer for reasons of disproportionate cost and a further six questions received a partial answer where a full answer could have been provided only at disproportionate costs.

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