§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the average time between legal aid work being carried out by lawyers and legal aid fees being paid to them for(a) criminal and (b) civil legal aid for each of the past 15 years.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe average times, in weeks, taken by the Scottish Legal Aid Board to process accounts for(a) criminal and (b) civil legal aid work in the years 1987–88 to 1991–92 and the situation at September 1992 are set out in the table. Prior to 1987, the payment of accounts for legal aid work in Scotland was the responsibility of the Law Society of Scotland and the figures for previous years are therefore not readily available. The board does not have figures available for 1987–88. The figures shown include periods of time when the board was awaiting responses from lawyers to its inquiries about accounts.
(a) Criminal (b) Civil 1988–89 7.55 13.26 1989–90 6.09 13.39 1990–91 5.06 11.65 1991–92 5.59 15.81 April-October 1992 4.44 9.08