§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps she(a) has taken and (b) intends to take to encourage trainee solicitors to undertake legal aid practice. [36439]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonA number of initiatives have been introduced in order to assist with the continuing recruitment and retention of publicly funded lawyers. In April 2000, of the £46.7 million of additional money which was allocated to the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to assist with Legal Help contracts in 2000–01
£23 million, which was subsequently increased to £29 million, was awarded for asylum work to finance an incentive package to include training, recruitment and financial help to encourage existing contractors to expand and new organisations to enter into contracts.£1 million was provided to fund training in immigration, mental health and community care. This was provided in order to develop training courses and help firms to expand and retrain staff in priority categories of law.This is an area we keep under review, because our reforms to legal aid give the LSC opportunities to improve the supplier base. But I have no immediate proposals to announce.
§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what recent assessment she has made of trends in recruitment and retention of legal aid lawyers. [36438]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Legal Services Commission (LSC) reviews trends in recruitment and the retention of publicly funded lawyers on a continuing basis to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of competent lawyers to do all categories of publicly supported legal work throughout England and Wales. The LSC reports regularly to the LCD and the evidence is that there is currently a sufficient number of lawyers to undertake publicly funded work. As at 15 February 2002, there were 4,935 solicitor offices with contracts to undertake publicly funded civil and family work. In addition to this, the LSC has also awarded contracts to 382 not-for-profit sector organisations. As at 31 January 2001, the total number of solicitor offices with General Criminal Contracts stood at 2,921. There are also four public defender offices with the fifth to open in April 2002 and the sixth shortly after.