§ Mr. John MarshallTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many of the claims made by solicitors for payment by the legal aid fund were settled within one month in 1991–92.
Mr. John M. TaylorIn 1991–92 the Legal Aid Board had a general target of paying 80 per cent. of solicitors' bills within six weeks of receipt measured by its performance in March 1992. This target was surpassed, with 87 per cent. of bills being paid within that time.
§ Mr. John MarshallTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many claims for payment by solicitors are awaiting payment from the London legal aid area office; and how many have been outstanding for over one month.
Mr. John M. TaylorOn 6 January 1993 the London area office had a total of 31,651 costs claims of all types in the process of being paid. Of these 2,844, or 9 per cent. had been held in the office for more than one month.
§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many people in(a) Pendle, (b) Lancashire and (c) England received legal aid for each year since 1987 in respect of (i) advice and assistance for divorce, (ii) road or work accidents, (iii) regaining custody of children taken into local authority care and (iv) alleged criminal acts triable at a Crown court; and what is his estimate for the total number of people eligible for legal aid in the categories mentioned for the next financial year.
Mr. John M. TaylorThe information is not available in the form requested. The following table shows the number of bills paid for advice and assistance for divorce for each of the last five years for England and Wales, for legal aid area 7 which comprises parts of Lancashire including Pendle together with Greater Manchester, and for legal aid area 15 which comprises the rest of Lancashire and Merseyside.
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England and Wales Legal Aid Area 7 Legal Aid Area 15 1987–88 237,056 18,531 13,599 1988–89 232,494 18,005 13,412 1989–90 225,066 18,132 12,460
England and Wales Legal Aid Area 7 Legal Aid Area 15 1990–91 215,895 17,315 11,681 1991–92 231,065 16,867 11,770 The number of legal aid certificates for proceedings related to road and work accidents is available only for England and Wales. Figures for the last five years are:
Year Number 1987–88 26,113 1988–89 27,745 1989–90 29,181 1990–91 30,416 1991–92 38,679 The following table shows for each of the past five calendar years the total number of criminal legal aid orders made in: (a) England and Wales; (b) the magistrates' courts in Lancashire and the Crown court centres in the northern circuit of the Lord Chancellor's Department; and (c) the Pendle magistrates' court and the Crown court at Burnley.
Year (a) England and Wales (b) Lancashire and Northern Circuit (c) Pendle and Burnley 1987 496,975 12,639 670 1988 511,895 1— 1— 1989 502,675 10,303 708 1990 507,813 13,583 880 1991 517,118 10,889 737 1 No figures available. Figures are not available for certificates issued for proceedings for regaining children taken into local authority care. In England and Wales it is estimated that in the next financial year 48 per cent. of households will be eligible for civil legal aid and 21 per cent., for advice and assistance. There is no upper financial eligibility limit for criminal legal aid.