PERFORMANCE OF THE OFFICE FOR THE SUPERVISION OF SOLICITORS

Early day motion 218A1, tabled 24 January 2001 by David Kidney (Labour). Signed by 6 members.

leave out from second 'solicitors' to end and add 'but recognises the very real progress that has been made by the Office in the last two years; acknowledges that while not all of the four targets agreed with the Lord Chancellor in 1999 have been met, an important target of reducing the number of cases pending to 6,000 by 31st December 2000 was achieved; welcomes the commitment of the Chief Executive of the Law Society, Janet Paraskeva, and the President, Michael Napier, to improve the quality and turnaround times of casework in line with ambitious new targets recently agreed with the Lord Chancellor; notes that the Lord Chancellor will review the performance of the Office against these targets in June 2001; further notes the continuing firm monitoring of the Office's work by the Legal Services Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, who is independent of the profession, represents the interests of consumers and reports directly to the Lord Chancellor; and calls on the House to continue to take a close interest in the progress that the Office makes in complaints handling.'.

Signatures by party: Labour 5, Liberal Democrat 1.