The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Dominic Raab)
My noble friend the Minister of State for Civil Justice (Lord Faulks QC) has made the following written statement.
The Government have made a priority of addressing the high costs of civil litigation in England and Wales.
To that end, part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 reforms the operation of no win no fee conditional fee agreements. Those reforms came into effect generally in April 2013 but were delayed in respect of insolvency proceedings.
After further consideration the Government have decided that the no win no fee reforms should now be applied to insolvency proceedings. The provisions will come into force for these cases in April 2016.
It has already been announced that there will be a post-implementation review of the LASPO Act part 2 reforms between April 2016 and April 2018. The review will take place towards the end of that period. The review under section 48 of the Act in relation to mesothelioma cases will also take place as part of the post-implementation review.
[HCWS420]