§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list all standard forms commonly issued to the public by the Probate Office in Wales, indicating which are available bilingually and which are available in the English language only; if he will make it his policy to secure the use of bilingual forms by all probate offices in Wales; and if he will make a statement. [35484]
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Mr. John M. TaylorThe question concerns a specific operational matter on which the chief executive of the Court Service is best placed to provide an answer and I have accordingly asked the chief executive to reply direct.
Letter from M. D. Huebner to Mr. Cynog Dafis, dated 19 July 1995:
The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, has asked me to reply to your Question about the availability of bilingual forms in probate offices in Wales.At present the only bilingual form issued to the public by the Probate Office in Wales is the Grant of Probate. However, in accordance with the Welsh Language Act 1993, the Court Service is currently developing a Welsh Language Scheme which will set out its policy for accommodating the needs of Welsh speakers when delivering a service to all members of the public in Wales. This will build on the policy statement already in place for Welsh speakers who use the courts, and will include full details of the service which will be provided to welsh speakers using Probate Offices in Wales. It will set out a timetable for the provision of bilingual forms, concentrating on those which are most commonly used and taking account of the availability of resource. It is intended that the scheme will be in place by the end of the year.