§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the cost of Government funding to the mediation services was in England in each of the past five years. [5365]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe amounts paid by the Legal Services Commission as remuneration for publicly funded family mediation work for the last five years are as follows.
Year £ 1996–97 2,066,000 1997–98 5,266,000 1998–99 9,580,000 1999–2000 7,137,000 2000–01 10,719,784 In addition the following funding was provided by the Legal Services Commission to national family mediation bodies for the development of family mediation:
Year £ 1996–97 15,400 1997–98 497,250 1998–99 679,000 1999–2000 374,000 2000–01 315,000 These figures relate to England and Wales, and separate figures for England alone are not available.
Additionally, in both 2000–01 and 2001–02 Mediation UK received grants of £90,000, which were funded jointly by the Legal Services Commission, the Home Office, the Department of Health and the Treasury.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps she is taking to ensure that mediation services in England receive adequate funding to continue their work. [5327]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonPublicly funded family mediation is available throughout England and Wales and mediation services receive remuneration for mediation work carried out under contract from the Legal Services Commission. Some funding has been provided for service start-up costs, and mediation services also receive income from private clients. Some mediation services also receive funding under local partnership agreements with the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service. In addition, the Lord Chancellor's Department funded an advertising campaign in January this year to help raise awareness of family mediation.