§ Mr. AMMONasked the Home Secretary the terms upon which the solicitors to the Commissioner of Police are employed; to whom costs awarded by the court to the prosecution are paid in cases in which the solicitors appear for the Commissioner; the amount of such costs and of what the sum of, £6,689 2s. 7d., debited in the Metropolitan Police Accounts for legal expenses, consist: and why a full-time solicitor is not employed to do all this work as in other public offices?
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§ Mr. SHORTTMessrs. Wontners are employed when necessary to conduct prosecutions on behalf of the police, to defend appeals from convictions in cases where the police are the original prosecutors, and to give legal advice generally. For this work there is a fixed scale of charges based on the ordinary scale of fees charged by solicitors. Costs awarded to the prosecution are paid into the Police Fund. The amount of such costs recovered in the financial year 1921–1922 was £4,351 11s. 7d. I will send my hon. Friend a statement showing how the figure for legal expenses is made up. It, would be impossible for a single full-time solicitor to undertake the work, and I have no reason to believe that the necessary work could be carried out at less expense under any other arrangement.