HC Deb 23 October 1990 vol 178 c103W
Mr. Fraser

To ask the Attorney-General how long the London area of the Legal Aid Board takes to authorise solicitors to appropriate costs which have been agreed and paid in legal aid cases and where only the authority of the Legal Aid Board is needed for solicitors doing legal aid work to transfer such moneys from a client account to an office account.

The Attorney-General

This information is not collected at present and the Legal Aid Board has no immediate plans to collect it.

Mr. Fraser

To ask the Attorney-General how long the London area of the Legal Aid Board takes to pay damages to legally aided litigants where those damages have been deposited with the board.

The Attorney-General

This information is not collected. If the hon. Member has a particular case in mind, perhaps he would write to the Lord Chancellor.

Mr. Fraser

To ask the Attorney-General what is the average time taken by the London area of the Legal Aid Board to pay legal aid bills of costs for which allocaturs and bills have been sent to them.

The Attorney-General

Information is not available in the form requested. The Legal Aid Board monitors the payment of bills according to time targets set out in its annual report. A comparison of the performance of the London area office with the targets is set out in the table.

Time taken between receipt and payment of bills
Legal Aid Board 4 weeks 6 weeks
per cent. per cent.
Target (per cent, of bills paid) 82 95
London area office performance for September 1990 69 90

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