Mr. GamierTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the academic research into the use of conditional fees referred to in his answer of 10 November,Official Report, column 575; and what research underlay his assessment of the success rate of conditional fees.[16432]
§ Mr. HoonI was referring to the research carried out by the Policy Studies Institute. Of the 837 cases entered into by the solicitors who responded to their survey they56W examined 197 cases in detail. The research was conducted between November 1996 and January 1997 and referred to agreements made no later than September 1996. PSI estimated that some 10,500 agreements had been made in a little over the first year that conditional fees were available and acknowledged that they had become an established method of funding personal injury litigation. I understand that something in the region of 1,500 agreements are now being entered into each month. By the time I spoke at the PSI conference on 23 September some 28,000 cases had been entered into. I do believe that 28,000 agreements in a little over three years is a remarkable success and I am keen that more of our citizens should have the access to justice that these agreements provide.