§ Mr. ByersTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) if he will take the necessary steps to ensure that no individual's civil action is statute barred as a result of their being unable to proceed with their action due to their eligibility for legal aid being wrongly assessed during the period 1 October 1991 to 30 March 1992;
(2) if he will make a statement on the circumstances which led to the incorrect assessment of income in relation to applications for civil legal aid between 1 October 1991 and 30 March 1992;
(3) if he will reimburse to solicitors their costs in checking clients' files in order to identify those cases where an incorrect assessment of income in relation to applications for civil legal aid was made between 1 October 1991 and 30 March 1992;
(4) what estimate he has made of the amount that will need to be repaid to those claimants who made a contribution to their civil legal aid costs but whose income was wrongly assessed during the period 1 October 1991 to 30 March 1992;
(4) what estimate he has made of the amount that will need to be repaid to those claimants who made a contribution to their civil legal aid costs but whose income wrongly assessed during the period 1 October 1991 to 30 March 1992;
(5) how many claimants have been affected by his Department's incorrect assessment of income in relation to applications for civil legal aid during the period 1 October 1991 to 30 March 1992;
(6) what assessment he has made of the number of clients' files that will need to be checked by solicitors in order to identify those cases in which an error in the original assessment for civil legal aid was made between 1 October 1991 and 30 March 1992.
Mr. John M. TaylorLegal aid dependants' allowances are, by regulation, set at 25 per cent. above income support allowances. From 7 October 1991, the income support allowances for dependent children were increased by £0.25 a week. However, as a result of administrative error, legal aid allowances were not adjusted. This meant that the amounts allowed by way of child dependants' allowances in legal aid means assessments were inaccurate to the extent of £0.31 per week.
In civil cases the assessments that may have been affected are those in which the financial application was completed between 1 October 1991 and 31 March 1992 and where the applicant had dependent children. Steps have been taken to ensure that those who may have been affected by this error will have their means reassessed. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the result of the error will have been that the individuals concerned will have been required to pay slightly more by way of contribution— around £4 per dependent child payable over one year— towards the cost of their legal aid than they otherwise would. Any such overpayment will be refunded. In these cases, the question of individuals being unable to pursue 104W their cases as a result of the error does not arise. In the unlikely event that this error caused an individual who would otherwise have been within the financial limits to be assessed as financially ineligible, I am prepared to consider, in the light of the particular circumstances, whether it would be appropriate for special help to be given to such individuals.
It is not possible to provide accurate figures on the number of applications affected by the error, but the Benefits Agency estimates it to be about 8 per cent. of those cases assessed during the period of the error. I will consider any claims for reasonable and necessary costs incurred by individual solicitors in checking their clients' files.