Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she had made an assessment of the potential merits of the use of mandatory mediation in (a) group actions and (b) class action claims.

The merits of mediation are considerable. It offers parties a swifter and less costly way to resolve legal disputes and can save parties the time and cost of going to court, thus saving sitting days and reducing the court backlog.

The Government has no plans to consider mandatory mediation at this time but continues to explore opportunities to expand the use of dispute resolution across the civil justice system.