§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many appeals mechanisms, as laid out in section 6 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994, he expects to establish by the end of 1996; how many staff each appeals system will employ; and what their estimated annual running costs will be. [23614]
§ Mr. FreemanAs I made clear in my response to my hon. friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Mr. Deva) on 11 March,Official Report, columns 464–65, consultation on a draft statutory instrument setting out provisions for the model appeals mechanism is currently in progress. Copies of the consultation document have been placed in the Library and I have asked for replies by 11 May this year.
Under section 6 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act, there will be only one model mechanism. This model will be considered for all appeals against enforcement action in appropriate legislation.