Double delight as Just Ask! makes the right impression

Use of the Community Legal Service Web site Just Ask! has doubled since its inception, the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) announced recently.In replying to Parliamentary questions, LCD minister Rosie Winterton said there have been more than 700,000 page impressions of the site since its launch in April 2000.

Usage has grown from an initial 6,000 page impressions a week to 12,000, she said.The issues that users have most sought advice on are employment, family matters, housing, consumer affairs and immigration.Ms Winterton also released figures for the cost of various projects to put legal proceedings on-line, which the department is sponsoring.The pilot scheme, Money Claims On-line, cost slightly more than2 million to set up.

There is also a yearly service charge of 885,000.

Operational staffing costs to support the pilot are around 48,000.The scheme - delivered by IT company EDS - enables law firms to make requests for claims for money, judgments and warrants electronically direct to the Court Service's bulk centre in Northampton.Ms Winterton said: 'Electronic issue of claims (by computer media exchange) has functioned at the bulk centre for some years, with considerable efficiency gains for the Court Service.

This pilot project aims to widen the scope for inclusion to all claims issuers.'The set-up cost of on-line application service at Preston County Court was 72,495, while ongoing project costs are included in the court's overall running costs.

Ms Winterton said the project 'is delivering some efficiency savings, although these have yet to be quantified'.

The pilot enables solicitors to issue certain applications in civil, family and insolvency cases - such as applications to disclose evidence - by e-mail.Ms Winterton said the LCD was on target to make around half of the services it is responsible for available electronically by 2002.