§ Ms CorstonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when he plans to bring into effect section 13 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, in respect of(a) abolition of the £5,000 administration order limit, (b) abolition of the requirement for a county court judgment and (c) the three-year limitation period; and if he will make a statement. [2369]
§ Mr. StreeterThe delay in implementing section 13 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 is due to practical problems identified as likely to result from its operation. My Department has been seeking a way forward which avoids these problems, and this work will continue in the context of the changes to civil procedure recommended by Lord Woolf. In the meantime, a number of steps have already been taken to improve the operation of administration orders, including the introduction of guidance to court staff that the debts included in an application for such an order should be considered for composition by the district judge if the applicant cannot pay the outstanding debt within three years.