§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what sums were recovered from fraudulent legal aid claimants in(a) 1992–93, (b) 1993–94, (c) 1994–95, (d) 1995–96 and (e) 1996–97. [40531]
§ Mr. HoonThe information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Amounts recovered in respect of these cases are not recorded separately from amounts recovered by the Legal Aid Board from all assisted persons whose legal aid has been withdrawn for various reasons.
§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what estimate he has made of(a) the number of fraudulent legal aid claims, (b) the number of individuals making such claims and (c) the sums paid out for such claims in (i) 1992–93, (ii) 1993–94, (iii) 1994–95, (iv) 1995–96 and (v) 1996–97. [40536]
§ Mr. Hoon(a) Information is available only on the number of detailed investigations undertaken by the Legal Aid Board of firms of solicitors involving possible fraud or abuse of the legal aid scheme. The number of cases investigated are as follows:
Investigation of solicitors firms 1992–93 98 1993–94 106 1994–95 117 1995–96 137 1996–97 159 The Legal Aid Board has also assisted the police in their investigations of applicants for criminal legal aid who are suspected of making false declarations to obtain 447W a criminal legal aid order. The number of such cases where the Board has assisted in these investigations is shown in the table:
Investigation of assisted persons 1992–93 8 1993–94 15 1994–95 25 1995–96 23 1996–97 24 (b) Information in relation to applicants of civil legal aid investigated for allegedly making a false declaration to obtain legal aid is not readily available. A section of the Benefits Agency had responsibility for investigating such allegations made against applicants but this section has now been disbanded since the Legal Aid Board took over responsibility for means assessment on 1 April 1997. The Board has not undertaken any fraud investigations against individual applicants in 1997–98.
(c) It is not possible to quantify accurately the amount of money lost because of fraud as, in all cases investigated, the claims submitted will usually contain some element of bone fide work and the percentage relating to the false claiming cannot be accurately determined. However, the Legal Aid Board will seek to recover from solicitors any costs which were considered to be either wrongly or fraudulently claimed. The amounts repaid, recouped or saved as a result of the Board's investigations were:
£ Amount 1992–93 20,153 1993–94 143,000 1994–95 524,276 1995–96 1,180,770 1996–97 807,706