§ Mr. GarnierTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many actions have(a) been issued and (b) proceeded to trial with a value of between £10,000 and £15,000 in each of the last three years, broken down into personal injury, other negligence, debt claims, housing claims and other claims; and what data he has collated on the average costs of these claims. [21275]
114W
§ Mr. GarnierTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in each year or part year since the small claims limit was increased to £3,000, how many applications were made to rescind the automatic reference to arbitration; and how many of these were granted, broken down by the type of case and the value of the claim. [21276]
§ Mr. HoonThe small claims limit was increased to £3,000 in January 1996. During 1996, 712 applications were made to rescind the automatic reference to arbitration, of which 586 were granted. Between January and October this year 696 applications were made and 539 were granted. Details of the type of case and value of claim of those applications that were granted are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. GarnierTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in each year or part year since the small claims limit increased to £3,000, how many claims have(a) been issued and (b) proceeded to a hearing with the small claims court, broken down by (i) personal injury, other negligence, debt, housing and other, and (ii) by value of the claim in the bands (1) under £1,000, (2) £1,000 to £3,000, (3) £3,000 to £5,000, (4) £5,000 to £10,000 and (5) £10,000 to £15,000. [21271]
§ Mr. HoonThe "small claims" limit increased to £3,000 in January 1996.
(a) claims are referred to the small claims or arbitration procedure only if they are defended. It is not therefore possible to identify at the point of issue how many claims will be referred to arbitration.
(b) The details of the number of claims that issued in 1996 that proceeded to a small claims arbitration hearing is as follows:
§ Mr. HoonDuring 1996 the number of actions that were issued and proceeded to trial as follows:
(a) Issued (b) Trial Personal injury 1,720 16 Other negligence 960 16 Debt 14,940 246 Other (including housing) 5,220 63 These figures are based on a two month sample.
The information requested was not collected centrally prior to 1996. This information could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost. In addition, details of the number 115W of actions issued that proceeded to trial during 1997 have not yet been collated, but will be available early in the new year. The information on costs awarded in court was not collected centrally prior to 1997, but will also be available for 1997 early in the new year.