HC Deb 11 March 1993 vol 220 cc640-2W
Mr. Redmond

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many legal aid certificates have been issued for(a) criminal cases and (b) civil cases in each of the last 10 years.

Mr. John M. Taylor

The number of criminal legal aid orders and civil legal aid certificates issued for each of the last 10 years is given in the table.

Legal aid certificates issued 1982–83 to 1991–92
Year (a) Legal aid orders granted in criminal cases Year (b) Legal aid certificates issued in civil cases (thousands)
1982 428,494 1982–83 189.6
1983 446,654 1983–84 205.9
1984 471,186 1984–85 222.2
1985 525,248 1985–86 232.4
1986 518,202 1986–87 245.7
1987 575,649 1987–88 245.4
1988 594,297 1988–89 226.0
1989 608,962 1989–90 259.2
1990 623,554 1990–91 297.6
1991 638,305 1991–92 337.3

Mr. Redmond

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary Lord Chancellor's Department how many legal aid certificates have been issued for(a) criminal cases and (b) civil cases in each of the last 24 months.

Mr. John M. Taylor

Table(a) gives numbers of legal aid certificates issued in civil cases in each month from January 1991 to February 1993. Statistics for the issue of legal aid orders in criminal cases are collected quarterly, and the numbers of such orders issued during each quarter in 1991 and 1992 are shown in table (b).

Table (a)
Month Number of civil legal aid certificates issued
1991
January 28,937
February 26,165
March 25,365
April 25,191
May 31,257
June 28,959
July 22,151
August 31,264
September 26,967
October 31,658
November 31,648
December 24,820
1992
January 33,287
February 30,632
March 35,679
April 32,249
May 26,896
June 34,166
July 39,099
August 31,852
September 35,594
October 36,868
November 39,439
December 31,210
1993
January 33,906
February 36,704

Table(b)
Quarter Number of legal aid orders issued in criminal cases
January to March 1991 149,148
April to June 1991 150,004
July to September 1991 163,920
October to December 1991 162,073
January to March 1992 167,432
April to June 1992 155,916
July to September 1992 151,925
October to December 1992 143,319

The Department's statistical returns from magistrates courts are, however, incomplete and the above figures for criminal legal aid orders have been estimated based on the information available.