§ Mr. HuttonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to his answer of 14 June,Official Report, column 519, what was the total amount of fraudulent legal aid claims made by solicitors in each of the last five years; how much was recovered in each year; and how many cases resulted in criminal prosecutions and conviction. [29707]
Mr. John M. TaylorIt is not possible to quantify the total amount of fraudulent legal aid claims made by solicitors in each of the last five years. This is because there may well be an element within the total amount of the claims under suspicion which may relate to work actually and reasonably done by the solicitor. In addition,
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Table 1: Details of judiciary in post as at 1 June 1995 Number Men Women Barrister1 Solicitor Black/Asian Lords of Appeal in Ordinary 12 12 0 12 0 0 Lords Justices 32 31 1 32 0 0 Heads of division (excludes Lord Chancellor) 4 4 0 4 0 0 High court judges 95 89 6 94 1 0 Circuit judges (include official referees) 514 483 31 455 59 3 Recorders 927 872 55 833 94 10 Assistant recorders (excludes assistant recorders in training) 334 284 50 270 64 8 Stipendiary magistrates 87 76 11 36 51 1 it is very difficult to identify fraud separately from claims made outside the regulations either through abuse, misuse, ignorance or incompetence. The number of cases involving solicitors and/or their employees prosecuted in the past five years is shown in the table, together with the outcome of those proceedings:
Financial year Cases Number of solicitors/employees Prosecuted Outcome 1990–91 3 7 4 convictions 3 acquittals 1991–92 2 3 3 convictions 1992–93 2 2 1 conviction 1 acquittal 1993–94 4 4 3 convictions 1 acquittal 1994–95 1 1 1 jury failed to agree—acquitted at retrial The amounts recovered either by order of the court or by the board's investigation section, in each of the last five years were as follows:
- 1990–91: £50,331
- 1991–92: £2,853
- 1992–93: £20,153
- 1993–94: £143,001
- 1994–95: £524,276