§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what consideration he is giving to altering the upper limit of claims in the small claims court; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. TaylorWe are keeping the small claims limit under review and plan to raise it as soon as practicable. However, we have not at this stage finalised the level to which it will he raised, nor the date on which this will take place.
The level was last increased to £1,000 in 1991. Any further increase may capture cases of greater complexity than those for which the procedure was designed. We are concerned to have appropriate procedures in place to deal with such cases before raising the small claims limit further.