§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion of civil appeals during each of the past five years in England and Wales have been brought by litigants in person.
§ The Lord ChancellorThe question concerns a matter which has been assigned to the Court Service under the terms of its framework document. I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to respond.
Letter to Lord Lester of Herne Hill from the Chief Executive of the Court Service, Mr. M. D. Huebner, dated 16th December 1996.
PQ 97/114 PROPORTION OF CIVIL APPEALS BY LITIGANTS IN PERSON
The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, has asked me to reply to the above Question about the proportion of civil appeals by litigants in person.
107WAThe table below shows the number of appeals lodged by litigants in person in the Court of Appeal, Civil Division compared with the total number of appeals
Number of Appeals Lodged 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 Total received 1,594 1,840 1,768 1,825 1,750 In person 154 181 164 186 166 Percentage in person 9.66 9.84 9.28 10.19 9.49
§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will undertake research into the reasons for the increase in the number of litigants in person bringing civil appeals in England and Wales.
§ The Lord ChancellorI have no plans to commission research into this subject at this time. This was, however, one of the matters considered by a working party established under the right honourable Lord Justice Otton, at the request of the Judges' Council, and their report was published in June 1995. Following that report I agreed to fund a two-year project providing assistance to litigants in person at the Royal Courts of Justice, which began in April 1996. The project is being monitored and will be evaluated at the end of that period.
Moreover, I have established a wide ranging review of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal against the background of an increasing number of applications and appeals, and consequent delays in the hearing of appeals. The review will put forward its recommendations by summer 1997.
§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
What reasons do they attribute for the increase in civil appeals brought by litigants in person in England and Wales during the past five years; and whether they consider that the increase in the number of such appeals has been influenced by the absence of legal aid.
§ The Lord ChancellorA working party established under the right honourable Lord Justice Otton reported in June 1995 on litigants in person in the Royal Courts
108WA
Table 1: Higher Education Museums, Galleries and Collections SHEFC Grant Allocations Museum, Gallery or Collection Higher Education Institution Grant Allocation 1995–96 1996–97 £ £ Marischal Museum University of Aberdeen 78,200 80,000 Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments University of Edinburgh 34,400 37,000 Collection of Historical Musical Instruments University of Edinburgh 1n/a 20,000 Mackintosh Building Glasgow School of Art 37,800 150,000 Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery University of Glasgow 536,100 550,000 St. Andrew's University Collections University of St. Andrews 1n/a 20,000 1 No allocation in 1995–96. lodged. No comparable statistics are kept for appeals dealt with in the High Court or county courts.
of Justice. The report concluded that the high levels of litigants in person visiting or contacting the Court of Appeal office could be attributed to various factors, but did not identify specific causes underlying the increase in the level of this category of appeals.
It is not possible to establish any direct link between levels of legal aid eligibility and the numbers of litigants in person. The growth in numbers of litigants in person has been apparent since at least 1989, and does not appear to have been influenced by specific changes to legal aid eligibility. Legal aid is available for proceedings in the Court of Appeal, provided that the applicant's means are within the qualifying limits and the case has merit.