Mr. GarniderTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the insurers and insurance companies with whom the Lord Chancellor or his officials have held discussions about the Government's legal aid reform proposals, indicating in each case where and when the discussion took place and who was present.[16321]
§ Mr. HoonOfficials of the Lord Chancellor's Department have had contact with various insurers and their representatives for some years. However since my noble and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor, announced his intentions to reform legal aid on 18 October 1997, his officials have met a delegation from the Association of British Insurers on 29 October 1997. The meeting took place at the Lord Chancellor's Department Headquarters (Selborne House). The Lord Chancellor also met James Innes of Abbey Legal Protection Ltd. on 14 November 1997 in the Lord Chancellor's office in the House of Lords. Those meetings have been in addition to less formal contact over the telephone and in correspondence.
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