§ Mr. GeorgeTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many people in the west midlands received legal aid in the year to 31 March; and how many would pay increased contributions under the Government's proposed changes.
Mr. John M. TaylorThe figures for criminal legal aid are not available for the year ending March 1992. In the 1991 calendar year almost 62,000 applications for legal aid were granted by magistrates courts and juvenile courts in the west midlands. For civil legal aid, in the year ending 31 March 1992 the No. 6 legal aid area office issued just under 20,000 certificates. The No. 6 legal aid area covers the west midlands, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and part of Staffordshire. It is not possible to estimate how many of those 20,000 would pay increased contributions under the proposed changes.