§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Chancellor on 20 October (WA 138), whether, and if so when, they intend to implement the recommendation made by Lord Woolf, Master of the Rolls, in his final report of July 1998 on Access to Justice (Recommendation 242) that, in public law cases, the court should have discretion to order costs to be paid out of public funds or to order that the unsuccessful party is not to pay the other party's costs where the proceedings have been brought in the public interest. [HL3732]
§ The Lord ChancellorThe Government do not believe that it is necessary to implement this recommendation. The courts already have a wide discretion to order costs and can take into account their impact on the parties. In proceedings supported by legal aid, for which public interest work will be a high priority under the Government's reforms, the courts are obliged to take the parties' means into account in deciding whether to order costs. That obligation will remain after the reforms.