§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department if, for each of the last five years, he will give the number of complaints made under the Court Service Charter, the percentage of complaints upheld and the average and total amount of compensation paid to complainants. [56020]
§ Mr. HoonThe Court Service became an executive agency of the Lord Chancellor's Department in April 1995. This information, specific to the Court Service, cannot be provided prior to this date. In addition, for the first year (April 1995-March 1996) there was no central system in place to measure the information required. This could therefore be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
160WFor the financial year April 1996-March 1997, there were 1,100 justified claims for compensation and the total amount paid out was £404,095.11, an average of £367 per claim. For the financial year April 1997-March 1998 there were 1,033 justified claims for compensation. The total amount paid out during that period was £610,328.52, an average of £590 per claim. It should be noted that one payment alone in this period totalled more than £110,806.35.
Information on the total number of complaints made under the Court Service Charter is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.