§ 48. Mr. Collinsasked the Attorney-General what percentage of current applications for legal aid is rejected on the grounds that the disposable income of the applicant is above the maximum permitted limit: and what was the percentage in 1951.
§ The Attorney-GeneralFourteen and three, respectively.
§ Mr. CollinsIs the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that there are thousands of litigants for whom it is useless to apply because, owing to the depreciation in the £, the £8-a-week upper limit is quite unrealistic? Does he realise that this condition means that most adult industrial workers are now deprived of the means of justice? Will he not look into the matter with the object of raising the £8-a-week to a limit of, say, £10 a week?
§ The Attorney-GeneralIt is the case that the rise in incomes has put a number of categories of persons who were within the limits of the legal aid scheme above those limits. This matter was considered by the Advisory Committee who reported that the financial conditions on legal aid do not in general prevent litigants from getting the assistance they should have.
§ 49. Mr. Elwyn Jonesasked the Attorney-General why the proportion of applications for legal aid in the year ended March, 1957, which were rejected on financial grounds, was so much higher than the proportion rejected in the year ended March, 1956.
§ The Attorney-GeneralBecause the number of applicants with resources above the financial limits for legal aid 898 was greater in the year ended March, 1957, than it was in the year ended March, 1956.