§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Clwyd, South constituency, the effects on Clwyd, South of her Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [150915]
§ Jane KennedyThe organisation of the magistrates courts in North Wales has been restructured to provide for more efficient and effective management and improve working with other agencies in the criminal justice system.
Clwyd, South is covered by three Community Legal Service Partnerships; Wrexham, Denbighshire and Powys. However, Clwyd, South only partially covers each of these local authority areas. There are currently 165 CLSPs throughout England and Wales, and 15 of these are based in Wales.
Throughout Wrexham 13 agencies have been awarded contracts with the CLS. The suppliers are located in the centre of the city, but provide services to residents of all Wrexham wards. This includes 11 solicitors, one housing specialist and one Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). The total value of the contracts awarded amount to over £373,000.
Within Denbighshire 10 solicitor firms and two not-for-profit organisations have been awarded contracts whose total value amounts to over £273,000. While many of the law firms draw clients from the more populated areas to the west of the local authority area, people to the south can access advice from South Denbighshire CAB. As there are no law firms in the south of Denbighshire, some people in this area tend to access advice services in Wrexham.
In the north of Powys four agencies have been awarded contracts whose total value exceeds £60,000. Some residents in the north of Powys are likely to access services from Oswestry. There are four organisations in Oswestry awarded CLS contracts and the value of these contracts amount to over £88,000.