I write in connection with the Comment piece, ‘See the value of mediation'.

Some years ago, Devon and Exeter Law Society, as it then was, ran an extremely successful small claims mediation scheme attached to the Exeter group of courts. Our society also trained and accredited a number of mediators to take part in the Exeter main court mediation scheme, which was then operated by the court itself.

It will come as no surprise that the government first of all closed down the main court scheme and directed everyone to the helpline (now a website), and that what had been a very successful, locally based, locally staffed scheme ceased to exist.

The Devon and Exeter mediators regularly achieved settlement rates of 75%. It is believed that the conversion of telephone helpline enquiries to actual mediations was only about 10%; of those, it is understood that less than 50% achieved settlement. It was a huge waste of money and, as a taxpayer, I suppose I must be grateful that it, at least, has stopped.

It seems to me that the new mediation website that has replaced the telephone helpline is merely a figleaf and is unlikely to provide a service which will be valued by members of the litigating public.

In 2008, our excellent small claims scheme was also shut down by the Ministry of Justice. In its place, what the ministry describes as its ‘acclaimed’ small claims mediation service was created. This is a telephone mediation service; it isn’t a ‘mediation service’ at all and I strongly suspect that the statistics which have been quoted for it are contrived in order to justify its continued existence.

The public deserve better. Our experience in Devon shows that a locally designed, locally staffed scheme run by properly trained mediators is able to provide a much-valued way of resolving cases without litigation.

I applaud the National Mediator Providers Association pilot in civil justices centres in Birmingham, Manchester and London. I really cannot see why the courts in other areas should not at least provide members of the public with the telephone numbers and/or addresses of locally based and locally staffed mediation services which could help them.

Jeremy Ferguson, solicitor and mediator, Barnstaple