HL Deb 16 December 1993 vol 550 c126WA
Lord Brougham and Vaux

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What will be the terms of reference of the Lord Chancellor's proposed fundamental review of expenditure by his department.

The Lord Chancellor (Lord MacKay of Clashfern)

The Government announced in February 1993 that it would conduct in-depth reviews of all public spending by every department of state. The work will examine long-term trends in spending, on individual programmes to assess whether they are sustainable, and seek out areas from which the state might withdraw altogether or where better targeting is now appropriate. The Financial Statement and Budget Report laid before the House of Commons on 30 November 1993 mentioned that the next batch of reviews would cover, among others, the legal departments.

The terms of reference of the review will be to:

  1. (a) assess whether the trends in expenditure on courts and legal services are sustainable and advise what must be done if they are not;
  2. (b) consider whether public expenditure by the legal departments in England and Wales has a clear purpose, whether the purpose is right for the 1990s and if so whether it is being pursued cost effectively.

The Review Team will make its first report to the Lord Chancellor by June 1994.