Written question asked by David Kidney (Labour) on Monday, 9 June 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 16 June 2003. It was answered by David Lammy (Labour) on Monday, 16 June 2003 on behalf of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Dept for Constitutional Affairs

Question: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what assessment she has made of the benefits to the public of the new form of conditional fee agreement introduced by her Department on 2nd June.(Question printed in Daily Part under Ministers previous department following ministerial reshuffle)

Answer: Mr. Kidney: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment he has made of the benefits to the public of the new form of conditional fee agreement introduced by his Department on 2 June. [118709] Mr. Lammy: The new form of conditional fee agreement (CFA) will for the first time enable people to enter into lawful agreement with their solicitor that in the event of winning the action the claimant will receive all of their damages and the solicitor will recover their reasonable fees from the losing party. People will have a clear choice between solicitors offering simple CFAs of this type and those offering other forms of CFA or funding arrangement. The simplified CFA is the first step in a programme the Government will be taking forward with key stakeholders including consumer groups to review and simplify the overall CFA regime. We would like to see a regime that it is easier for the consumer to understand and for solicitors to use and against which it is harder for mischievous challenges to be brought. The Government will be publishing a general consultation paper in the next few weeks and will be consulting widely to identify views and the specific actions needed.

Secondary information