§ 41. Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on access to justice in Cheshire. [136364]
§ Jane KennedyI refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 25 July 2000,Official Report, columns 541-42W.
There are nine magistrates courts, nine county courts and three Crown courts. In Cheshire, as elsewhere, courts are been modernised, fit for the 21st Century. For example, one of the aims of the Crown Court Programme is to improve efficiency and enhance the facilities at all Crown court centres, irrespective of size, location or current accommodation limitations.
The Community Legal Service (CLS) will improve access to good quality legal advice, through local networks of legal services. There are now 154 firms of solicitors and advice agencies in Cheshire in the latest edition of the CLS Directory, which means they either 649W have the CLS Quality Mark already or are likely to apply for the Quality Mark in the near future. They will provide the local CLS network in Cheshire. A CLS Partnership has also been set up covering Cheshire, which will co-ordinate the funding and provision of local services. Since its launch in May, the Cheshire CLS Partnership has been particularly focused on developing referral procedures for the local network, and it has recently held training days for local solicitors and advice agencies on referrals.