Legal Aid (Hansard, 13 July 1995)

§ Mr. Boateng
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much he estimates it will cost to extend legal aid to qualifying persons bringing personal injury claims up to the value of £10,000 on the proposed civil litigation fasttrack. [34245]

Mr. John M. Taylor
Until there has been an opportunity for the Lord Chancellor to consider the proposals in greater detail, it will not be possible to make an assessment of the potential cost or savings to the legal aid fund.

§ Mr. Boateng
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much he expects the Legal Aid Board to save if children are no longer able to be parties to legal actions brought on their behalf against the decisions of local education authorities. [34242]

Mr. Taylor
No estimate has been made.

§ Mr. Boateng
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what factors led to the delay in the Legal Aid Board sanctioning of funds for the appeal to the High Court in the case of Emma Van de Veldev. Special Needs Tribunal. [34246]

Mr. Taylor
The administration of civil legal aid is the responsibility of the Legal Aid Board. However, I understand that both of Miss Van de Velde's applications were dealt with promptly by the board; the first within 12 working days, and the second, for an emergency certificate, within 24 hours.

§ Mr. Boateng
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to(a) estimate and (b) publish the potential cost savings to the legal aid fund to be made from raising the upper limit on small claims from £1,000 to £3,000. [34243]

Mr. Taylor
The Lord Chancellor has announced his intention to implement Lord Woolf's recommendations that the small claims limit should be raised to £3,000 for all claims except those for personal injury. Lord Woolf's recommendations is based on the desirability of making the less formal and more affordable small claims procedure available to more litigants. There are likely to be some small savings to the legal aid fund from increasing the limit. The level of such savings is still being assessed. I will write to the hon. Member when this work is completed.