§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what monitoring of costs in fast-track cases has taken place; what data relating to costs in fast track-cases have been collected; and if he will make a statement. [140816]
§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to introduce benchmark costs for fast-track civil cases; and if he will make a statement.[140817]
§ Mr. LockThe Government have no plans at present to introduce benchmark costs for fast-track civil cases.
§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what consultations he has held on the issue of benchmark costs in fast-track cases; and if he will make a statement. [140822]
§ Mr. LockFollowing consultation with senior judiciary, my Department commissioned a scoping study to identify the existing sources and quality of data that 911W could be accessed in order to assist judges to take a consistent approach when carrying out summary assessment of costs for pre-trial proceedings in fast-track cases and selected proceedings in multi-track cases, and to propose a method of gathering data and analysing it in order to provide a basis for benchmarking.
The study found that fixed and benchmarking exercise could not be developed from historical data and recommended that a sampling exercise be carried out to obtain and analyse reliable data to inform any decisions on the establishment of fixed and benchmark costs.
The findings of the study were discussed with the senior judiciary. They felt that guidelines should be developed using the expert knowledge of the judiciary and in consultation with the professions, on the basis that actual data might only produce figures reflecting the current inconsistent approach to assessment.
The Senior Costs Judge has, through consultation with designated civil judges, district judges and representatives of the legal profession, collected and published guideline rates for solicitors throughout the country, to assist judges and practitioners when carrying out summary assessment. The Senior Costs Judge, at the request of the Master of the Rolls, is consulting widely with judges, the legal profession and other groups in order to develop benchmark figures for a limited range of procedures in both the fast track and the multi-track. The senior judiciary envisage that the benchmark figures might be applied to those procedures, while at the same time retaining the discretion of the court to depart from them in out of the ordinary cases. The senior judiciary wish to see how the benchmark scheme operates in practice before it is extended to other procedures or further developed for the fast-track.