Legal Aid (Hansard, 8 March 1993)

§ Mr. Boateng
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what representations he has received regarding the accuracy of the statistics given in the leaflet "Legal Aid—How It Works", with particular reference to the average payments to solicitors under the duty solicitor schemes in 1992–93; and how the figure given was arrived at.

Mr. John M. Taylor
No formal representations have been made. However, it has since come to my attention that there is an inconsistency in the way in which the estimate of the average payment to solicitors in 1992–93 under the duty solicitor schemes was calculated. Average payments to solicitors in the years 1988–89 to 1991–92 were derived by dividing gross expenditure on the schemes by the total number of people helped under the schemes. The 377W estimate for 1992–93 was calculated by dividing estimated gross expenditure by the estimated number of bills that will be paid under the schemes. This resulted in an incorrect figure of £101 for 1992–93 because it is not unusual for claims to be aggregated, that is, a single claim may include a number of acts of assistance given to a number of people.
It is estimated that 885,000 people will receive assistance under the schemes in 1992–93 and that gross expenditure will amount to £72 million. Therefore, the average payment to solicitors in 1992–93 will be £81.

§ Mr. Boateng
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many copies of the leaflet "Legal Aid—How it Works" were published by the Lord Chancellor's Department.

Mr. John M. Taylor
Three thousand copies of the leaflet "Legal Aid—How it Works" were published by the Lord Chancellor's Department.

1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92

Gross Expenditure—£ million 543 610 715 848 1,097

Solicitors—Per cent. 71 71 69 68 68

Barristers—Per cent. 17 19 18 18 17

§ Mr. Mullin
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the average payment by the legal aid fund to(a) barristers and (b) solicitors in 1991–92.

Mr. John M. Taylor
The average payment made to barristers and solicitors from the legal aid fund in 1991–92 was as follows:

Barristers Solicitors

Legal Aid Fund £335.77 £236.29

For barristers this is an average of payments made in respect of civil legal aid and criminal legal aid in the magistrates' courts. For solicitors this figure is an average of payments made in respect of civil legal aid, criminal legal aid in the magistrates courts, assistance by way of representation, the green form scheme and the duty solicitor schemes. Payments in respect of criminal legal aid in the higher courts are not made from the legal aid fund administered by the Legal Aid Board. Average payments in those cases in 1991–92 were £677.64 for barristers and £741.68 for solicitors.

§ Mr. Boateng
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the cost of the leaflet produced by the Lord Chancellor's Department entitled "Legal Aid—How it Works".

Mr. John M. Taylor
The cost of the leaflet "Legal Aid —How it Works" produced by the Lord Chancellor's Department was £3,557.

	1987–88	1988–89	1989–90	1990–91	1991–92
Gross Expenditure—£ million	543	610	715	848	1,097
Solicitors—Per cent.	71	71	69	68	68
Barristers—Per cent.	17	19	18	18	17