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Small Claims (Courts)

: Indeed it would. I expect that a further letter in amplification of the hon. Gentleman's persistent and necessary questioning on the subject might follow from the Department. Were the consultants on whom so much money was spent involved in trying to sort out the county court IT provision? If so, that does not seem to have produced the results that we need. It is clearly an issue for the Department and it should show more urgency, we felt, than it has. The second problem area, which is reflected in the experience of hon. Members when trying to help their constituents, is in the enforcement of judgments. If someone gets a judgment in the small claims court and comes out thinking that they have recognition that wrong was done and will be compensated, and then find that they cannot enforce it, that is extremely frustrating. It is such a common experience that, in its literature, the Department advises people how to find out whether the person against whom they have a claim already has undischarged county court judgments, as it might not be worth pursuing another claim against that person. It is a counsel of defeat: do not bother taking a case against that defendant, because his record of paying is so bad that it is not worth while.