§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what powers he has in respect of restricting the legal aid in respect of an individual case; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. TaylorNeither the Lord Chancellor nor I may intervene in individual cases. Under the provisions of the Legal Aid Act 1988, responsibility for the grant of civil legal aid in individual cases, rests with the Legal Aid Board. Responsibility for the grant of criminal legal aid in individual cases rests with the relevant court.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) what is the current total cost of legal aid support to the Maxwell brothers; and how much he estimates the total bill is likely to be at the conclusion of the court consideration of the case;
(2) if he will list all those who have received payment from legal aid funds for their activity in respect of the Maxwell brothers' case; how much in total each of them has been paid to date; if he will list their hourly fee, where appropriate; if he will summarise the nature of the activity they have undertaken; and if he will estimate what their likely total bill will be at the conclusion of the court case.
Mr. John M. TaylorThe total amount of criminal legal aid paid to date to lawyers acting for all six452W defendants in R. v. Kevin Maxwell and Others is £4,028,008 inclusive of VAT. This amount includes final costs in the magistrates courts of—£829,377—as well as payments on account, as of 9 November 1994, in the Crown court of £3,198,631. All payments include VAT and disbursements, such as expert witness and accountancy fees, and other expenses necessarily incurred. I do not consider it would be appropriate while the case is continuing to give a further breakdown of those figures, nor do I consider it appropriate to speculate as to what the final costs might be.