§ Sir John WheelerTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Department what cost implications the steering group of the major agencies of the legal system has identified in respect of the establishment of courses and training for court interpreters; and what the cost would be of implementing a system of qualifications.
Financial Year Provision + Supplementary £million1 Outturn £million Percentage increase legal aid Percentage increase GDP Increase above GDP percentage increase Number of bills paid2 1979–80 101.31 + — 99.35 — — — 971,684 1980–81 127.81 + 5.53 138.89 39.8 14.00 25.8 1,088,945 1981–82 190.43 + — 170.26 22.6 9.71 12.8 1,269,685 1982–83 222.96 + 20.00 215.45 26.5 9.50 17.0 1,400,772 1983–84 244.00 + — 237.22 10.1 8.40 1.7 1,538,113 1984–85 276.40 + — 273.99 15.5 7.10 8.4 1,705,598 1985–86 301.02 + 25.9 319.46 16.6 9.50 7.1 1,964,267 1986–87 357.19 + 23.00 362.94 13.6 7.60 6.0 2,225,599 1987–88 442.31 + — 433.65 19.5 10.70 8.8 2,504,194 1988–89 488.48 + — 478.49 10.3 11.20 -0.9 2,460,384 1989–90 54602 + 12.46 568.83 18.9 8.40 10.4 2,665,113 1990–91 608.27 + 90.96 683.81 20.2 6.40 13.8 2,725,902 1 Exclusive of administration costs. 2 The Legal Aid Board does not record its information in the form of the number of people who have received legal aid in any given year. More than one individual can be assisted by a single certificate and it is also possible for an individual to have received separate acts of assistance from the Legal Aid Board on separate issues in a given year. What is recorded is the number of acts of assistance. The number of bills paid correlates to the number of acts of assistance.