HL Deb 15 October 1981 vol 424 cc553-4WA
Lord Elwyn-Jones

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What decisions they have taken on the recommendations of the Review Body on the Chancery Division of the High Court.

The Lord Chancellor

The Review Body made important recommendations for improvement in the structure and organisation of the Chancery Division. I have now been able to consider representations made and have been much encouraged by the favourable reception given to the report. I am, therefore, making arrangements to put into effect almost all of these though with minor variations by 1st January 1983.

A few of the recommendations require further consultation and consideration before I shall be able to reach a final decision. In particular, it will be right to wait for the report of the Cork Committee on Insolvency before making any changes which would affect companies' and bankruptcy business. In addition it is useful to view within the context of the High Court as a whole those recommendations affecting the long vacation, the concept of court control and the hearing of ex parte applications for interlocutory relief.

The effects of the acceptance of these recommendations should be to reduce the waiting time for the hearing of long witness cases, and to enable the Vice-Chancellor to use the time of judges to better purpose by the abolition of groups and the withdrawal of a standby judge for motions. Further help will also be afforded by the decision to extend Chancery jurisdiction to Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff.

The procedure for processing and drafting orders will be swifter and more economical. This will be brought about by the introduction of a court file for each case, abolition of the concept of bespeaking all orders and abolition of consultation on the form of orders, save in the most complex cases.

The statutory posts of registrar and assistant registrar will be abolished. The necessary order will be laid before 31st December 1982. It will be for the Supreme Court Rule Committee to make the necessary rules as to the procedure for drafting orders which will operate from 1st January 1983. The registrars will have an important role to play in the complicated arrangements which must be made during the period leading up to 1st January 1983. In particular, their advice and assistance in drafting common forms of order will be invaluable.

The time spent in waiting for the order of the court to be produced is the most common cause of complaint against the organisation of the Chancery Division and I know that practitioners wish to see that delay eliminated. More generally, the Chancery Division as a whole will be more suitably organised to deal with the needs of litigants and the profession while continuing to provide the judges with the necessary support. The procedural improvements which are recommended and which will be considered by the Supreme Court Rule Committee in the New Year, will be of enormous help in this respect.

My immediate task is to ensure that those staff who are in the Chancery Division and will remain there are made aware of what is expected of them and are properly trained to carry it out. I will seek to ensure that the service of appropriately expert quality continues to be available to the judges of the Division and that sufficient legally qualified staff are available to deal with the more complex work that needs to be done.

House adjourned at twelve minutes before eleven o'clock.