HC Deb 29 April 2004 vol 420 cc1245-6W
Bob Spink

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many solicitors provided legal aid in each legal aid area(a) in 1997 and (b) at the latest time for which figures are available. [168619]

Mr. Lammy

The Legal Services Commission can provide figures for 1997–98 on the number of solicitors' offices paid for legal aid work in Family, Non-family and Crime but cannot provide any further breakdown by category. Some offices practiced more than one area of legal aid, therefore the total offices paid does not equal the sum of the breakdown. These figures are in the following table A.

In January 2000 the Legal Services Commission introduced a system of contracting. A breakdown of the number of solicitors' offices with contracts as at April 2004 is provided in the following table B. Some offices hold a contract in more than one category of law, therefore, the total offices with civil contracts does not equal the sum of the breakdown.

Table A
Category of law Solicitors' offices paid in 1997–98
Family 9,082
Non-family 9,497
Crime 7,304
Total solicitors' offices paid 10,601

Table B
Category of law Solicitors'

offices with

contracts as at

April 2004
Actions against the police 75
Clinical negligence 288
Community care 57
Consumer 45
Debt 158
Education 47
Employment 163
Family 3,072
Housing 450
Immigration: asylum 380
Immigration: non-asylum 376
Mental health 297
Personal injury 1,079
Public law 40
Tolerance 2,098
Welfare benefits 186
Solicitors' offices with Controlled Work Contracts 3,701
Additional Licence Only Contracts 213
Total solicitors' offices with General Civil

Contracts

 3,914
The number of solicitors' offices with criminal

contracts as at 31 March 2004

 2,750

Bob Spink

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what proportion of the legal aid budget was spent on asylum and immigration cases in each of the last five years. [167074]

Mr. Lammy

The proportion of the legal aid budget spent on immigration and asylum in each of the last five years was as follows:

Percentage
Proportion
1998–99 3.2
1999–2000 3.9
2000–01 4.8
2001––02 7.4
2002–03 9.2

Figures for 2003–04 are not yet available.