HC Deb 08 March 1999 vol 327 cc83-4W
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the NFM Tavistock Institute research project on mediation in public law and social services departments. [74680]

Mr. Hutton

In 1995 the Department funded a pilot project on child protection mediation. The report highlighted the advantages of effective dispute resolution as well as the difficulties of ensuring full inter-agency co-operation. The small number of cases involved suggest that further developmental work will be needed if advance dispute resolution is to make a major contribution in the handling of public law cases.

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