§ Mr. Lawrenceasked the Attorney-General what sum of money was spent by the Lord Chancellor's Department on civil legal aid in each of the past three years; what amount represented payment 314W of VAT; and what amount was received by the Exchequer after deductions of inputs.
§ The Attorney-General:Expenditure on civil legal aid over the past three years is given in the table below. The amounts set out in the second column of the table show the gross sum paid out in each year, and those in the third column show the net cost in each year after deducting from the gross, contributions, costs recovered and damages retained.
Year Gross Net 1973–74 … £117,659,620 £9,884,660 1974–75 … £21,526,873 £12,139,586 1975–76 … £26,949,311 £16,258,668 It is not known what amount represented payment of VAT, because the legal aid fund is not taxable for the purposes of VAT and no separate accounts are kept of VAT paid to the barristers and solicitors who receive payments from the fund. I understand that no separate record is kept of VAT collected from barristers and solicitors in respect of legally aided civil cases.