HL Deb 02 April 1998 vol 588 cc66-7WA
Lord Acton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

When it plans to implement Part II of the Family Law Act 1996. [HL1359]

The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg)

The Government remain committed to implementing Part II of The Family Law Act 1996. A very extensive series of pilots testing a number of different models of information meetings will operate until at least March 1999. It would be wrong to anticipate the results of these pilots. Given the timetable for the pilots, and the inevitable time that will be needed to establish a comprehensive system once a preferred model of information meeting is decided upon, it would be safe to assume that I will be unable to implement Part II until at least the end of 1999 or even early in the year 2000.