§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Attorney General what proportion of the working population now qualifies for legal aid; and how this compares with the proportion that 3W qualified when the scheme was first introduced.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe information requested relating to the working population is not available. A recent study by the Special Consultant to the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Aid, with the help of the Central Statistical Office, showed, however, that in 1950 the proportion of the population eligible for legal aid on income grounds alone was over 80 per cent., though the low capital limits then applicable would have reduced this proportion; that by 1973 this proportion had fallen to about 40 per cent. of the population; but that since then the overall decline in eligibility appeared to have been largely arrested.