Legal Aid and Civil Costs Reform

Debate between Lord Maclennan of Rogart and Lord Phillips of Sudbury

Monday 15th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Phillips of Sudbury]

My Lords—

[Lord Maclennan of Rogart]

My Lords, I welcome the reference to promoting alternative dispute resolution to accelerate and simplify the resolution of disputes. Can my noble friend indicate what the criteria are to be where exceptional funding for excluded cases is awarded? In particular, will he recognise that it is an issue not just for the excluded individual but for the courts, because if a case is of a particular complexity it can clog up the courts: a point that was made by a former Lord Chief Justice and a former Master of the Rolls when a previous Conservative Government cut legal aid?