§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs (1) which legal suppliers have over-billed for services provided on behalf of the Community Legal Service in each year since 1997; and what the total cost was of over-billing in each year; [185647]
(2) how many of those legal suppliers that over-billed for services provided on behalf of the Community Legal Service had their contracts terminated in each year since 1997; and on what date each termination took place. [185648]
§ Mr. LammyThe Legal Services Commission (LSC) monitors whether costs claimed by suppliers are reasonable, either by individual bill submitted (for civil representation) or by auditing a sample of files (for controlled work under an LSC contract). At some stage, virtually all suppliers in receipt of public funding will have had their bills reduced, either by the LSC or by the court through its assessment process.
The LSC does not record costs in a way which enables them to identify the total cost for over-toiling in each year. Neither does it distinguish between those firms that have stopped doing work because the LSC has actively terminated contracts, and those firms that have withdrawn voluntarily. The LSC may terminate contracts for a range of reasons including over-toiling.
The LSC carries out cost compliance audits on all firms who are contracted with them to measure whether the suppliers are claiming correctly on their files. This is an 530W objective audit where LSC compares what is claimed by the suppliers against what is actually evidenced in those files. Where a supplier is confirmed as 'category 3'—the lowest rating under the LSC's cost assessment audit— the Commission recovers the amounts claimed from the supplier. In 2003–04, the LSC recovered in excess of £7 million from 711 suppliers as a result of these audits.
§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what issues will be covered by the recorded message relating to education on the new Community Legal Service Direct advice line. [185260]
§ Mr. LeslieIssues covered by recorded messages on the Community Legal Service (CLS) Direct advice line relating to education are as follows: parents rights relating to school exclusion, advice for parents unable to obtain a place for their child at their preferred school, rights and responsibilities of a parent whose child is truanting and advice for students facing difficulties with their university.
The Legal Services Commission plans to introduce further messages as other commonly experienced education-related problems are determined. Further topics are covered in leaflet number 20 of the CLS Direct Leaflet Series, entitled "Education: Parents' and Children's Rights at School." The leaflet is widely available in hard copy and also through the CLS Direct website.
§ Mr. DjanoglyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many(a) visitors to the Community Legal Services website and (b) callers to the Community Legal Services direct telephone line were received each day in the last month for which figures are available; and how many (i) website visits and (ii) calls he expects in the next year. [185261]
§ Mr. LammyThe website of the Community Legal Service (CLS) was known as 'JustAsk!' prior to 14 July 2004, and 'CLS Direct' from this date. Figures for daily visits to the website, in June, are detailed in table 1.
The Community Legal Service Direct telephone line was launched on 14 July 2004 (although the line had been operational from 2 July 2004). Figures for calls to CLS Direct, in July, are detailed in table 2.
The increased publicity generated by the launch of CLS Direct is expected to increase significantly visits to the website and phone calls made. No precise estimates of total calls, or website visits, next year can yet be made.
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Table 1: Legal Services Commission breakdown of visitors to the 'Just Ask!' website Visits Date Number Percentage of monthly total June 2004 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 2,271 5.14 4 2,404 5.44 5 1,492 3.38 6 1,429 3.24 7 2,907 6.58 8 2,836 6.42 9 3,073 6.96
Table 1: Legal Services Commission breakdown of visitors to the 'Just Ask!' website Visits Date Number Percentage of monthly total 10 2,839 6.43 11 100 0.23 12 1,346 3.05 13 1,449 3.28 14 66 0.15 15 2 0.00 16 5 0.01 17 9 0.02 18 9 0.02 19 0 0.00 20 0 0.00 21 3 0.01 22 2,613 5.92 23 2,866 6.49 24 2,728 6.18 25 2,501 5.66 26 1,558 3.53 27 926 2.10 28 2,774 6.28 29 3,010 6.82 30 2,940 6.66 Total 44,156 100.00 Note: The server was down for periods of time while essential work was being carried out in preparation for the launch of CIS Direct. A substantial number of visitors to the website to are likely not to have been captured during this time. Average monthly website visits number around 60,000. Figures for July will be available in August 2004.
Table 2: Calls to Community Legal Service Direct Date Number of calls July 2004 2 140 3 1 5 218 6 169 7 144 8 117 9 136 10 2 11 1 12 204 13 167 14 158 15 175 16 222 17 6 18 1 19 178 20 212 21 218