§ Mr. Johnasked the Secretary of State for Social Services on how many occasions and for what purposes officers of his Department have passed information gathered for the purpose of determining an application for legal aid to other officers of his Department; what authority they have: and what instructions he proposes to issue in the light of any information being found to have been so passed.
§ Dr. Boyson[pursuant to his reply, 21 May 1984, c. 362]: No statistics are kept of the occasions when legal aid assessment officers. have alerted benefit officers a because there has been doubt concerning a claimant's entitlement to benefit. They have acted in accordance with the instructions and guidance issued by the Secretary of State. But the authority for legal aid assessment officers to pass such information to other officers for purposes not specified in section 22(1) of the Legal Aid Act 1974 has been suspended and instructions have been issued accordingly.