§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 19 March,Official Report, column 438, if he will give comparable figures for the cost of administering legal aid in Scotland through the local legal aid committees in each of the five years prior to the establishment of the Scottish Legal Aid Board in 1987; and if he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonUnlike the Scottish Legal Aid Board, the former Law Society legal aid central committee and the local legal aid committees dealt only with the merits of civil legal applications. The committees did not undertake assessments of the means of applicants for civil legal aid, which were assessed by DHSS and latterly the Scottish Office. Nor did they have any responsibility for summary criminal legal aid applications, which were dealt with by the courts. Comparable administrative cost figures are therefore not available.