§ Mr. ByersTo ask the Attorney-General (1) how many barristers on the panel of Treasury counsel received more than £200,000 in fees from public funds for the latest year for which information is available; [25055]
(2) pursuant to his answer of 22 May, Official Report, column 451, how much each Treasury counsel retained for civil work received in fees from public funds in 199495; of the Treasury counsel based at the central criminal court, how many received between (i) £250,000 to £300,000, (ii) £300,000 to £350,000, (iii) £350,000 to £400,000, (iv) £400,000 to £500,000, (v) in excess of £500,000 from the Crown Prosecution Service for financial year 1994–95. [29928]
§ The Attorney-GeneralPursuant to my answer of 22 May 1995,Official Report, column 451, and to my answer of 21 June 1995, Official Report, column 260, and further to my answer pursuant to that given on 21 June, the information given for fees paid to Treasury counsel based at the central criminal court requires correction. During the financial year 1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995, the number of counsel in respect of whom payments were issued by the Crown Prosecution Service are set out in the table by reference to the bands referred to in the hon. Member's question:
Column 1 (inc. vat) Column 2 (ex. vat) (I) £250,000 to £300,000 3 0 (ii) £300,000 to £350,000 0 3 (iii) £350,000 to £400,000 3 0 (iv) £400,000 to £500,000 0 0 (v) in excess of £500,000 0 0 The figures given are shown in two columns. Column 1 relates to payments including value added tax. Column 2 shows the fees paid to counsel excluding value added tax.
On the basis of the information now available to me, the number of Treasury counsel based at the central criminal court in respect of whom payments in excess of £200,000, inclusive of value added tax, were issued by the Crown Prosecution Service over the same financial year is 10. The number in respect of whom payments in excess of £200,000, exclusive of value added tax, were issued by the Crown Prosecution Service over the same period is six.
The figures given, provided by the Crown Prosecution Service and taken from its computerised database, are calculated strictly by the date on which a particular payment is issued by the Crown Prosecution Service rather than the date on which the payment was received or processed by the individual counsel concerned.