HC Deb 18 July 2000 vol 354 cc156-7W
Mr. Kidney

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what research his Department(a) has commissioned and (b) intends to commission to assist him in evaluating the effectiveness of the introduction of (i) the new civil court rules and (ii) the Community Legal Service in widening access to justice. [130731]

Mr. Lock

Three research projects have been commissioned which fall within the first topic area: Monitoring the Rise in the Small Claims Limit; Cross-Jurisdictional Issues in Case Management; The Impact of Conditional Fees on the Selection, Handling and Outcomes of Personal Injury Cases. In addition, the Court Service conducts locally run customer satisfaction surveys at courts and tribunals in a two-year rolling cycle. The surveys identify trends and changes in customer requirements as well as providing information on delivery of service. The Department is currently discussing the possibility of commissioning a research project which might look at further improvements to case management and the use of joint experts in court proceedings.

A project to examine Local Legal Need, which aims to measure the effectiveness of the Community Legal Service, is being undertaken by Legal Services Research Centre. Currently, there are no plans to commission further research on the Community Legal Service.

The Department carries out a review of its requirements in formulating its priorities for research in its annual programme of work. This is currently under way.

Dr. Kumar

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on the relationship between the community legal services and debt and money advice services. [131210]

Mr. Lock

The provision of debt and money advice will be an important part of the local networks of legal services we are developing, and which will be supported by local Community Legal Service Partnerships.

For example, there are 430 solicitors' firms and 171 not-for-profit agencies with contracts from the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to provide debt advice services. In addition, the LSC is running six pilot projects to look at alternative methods of delivering debt advice, including outreach services in Carlisle, Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham, and telephone services in Sheffield, Norfolk and Northumberland.