§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, 577W Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list those departmental responsibilities which relate to (a) England, (b) England and Wales, (c) England, Wales and Scotland and (d) the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the approximate proportion of the time and budget of his Department which exclusively relates to each of the above categories. [5957]
§ Mr. StreeterThe Lord Chancellor's Department is responsible for promoting general reforms in the civil and family law; the procedures of the civil courts; for legal aid; and the Lord Chancellor is responsible for advising the Crown on the appointment of High Court and circuit judges. He appoints High Court Masters, district judges, magistrates and certain other legal officers in his own right. He also has ministerial responsibility for magistrates' courts, which are administered locally.
The Lord Chancellor's Department has two executive agencies, the Court Service and the Public Trust Office.
The Department's responsibilities, including those of the Court Service and Public Trust Office, relate to England and Wales. Its expenditure in 1995–96 is set out in table 1. Explanatory notes are provided to show where a split may be made between expenditure in England and Wales. A similar split in time spent on the different categories cannot be made. The Department has no responsibilities which relate to England alone or, save in respect of the administration of certain tribunals, to Scotland, and nor do its responsibilities extend to Northern Ireland.
The Lord Chancellor is accountable to Parliament for two separate Government Departments, which are also executive agencies.
The Public Record Office is responsible for maintaining, supervising and co-ordinating the public record system of the Government of the United Kingdom. Its responsibilities and therefore all of its time and budget relate to the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In practice, most of its work concerns England and Wales since records of Government Departments, courts, tribunals and other bodies relating wholly or mainly to Scotland or to Northern Ireland are administered by the Scottish Record Office or by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, as appropriate. However, it has no method of attributing its expenditure on a territorial basis. The Public Record Office's budget—less extraordinary items—for 1995–96 was £26,735,000.
The main statutory function of Her Majesty's land Registry, which was also established as a trading fund in April 1993, is to keep a register of title to freehold and leasehold land throughout England and Wales. On behalf of the Crown, the registry guarantees title to registered estates and interests in land. The registry's responsibilities apply equally to both England and Wales. Its expenditure is set out in table 2.
The Lord Chancellor also has separate responsibility for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland, and for advising the Crown on judicial appointments and making certain appointments himself on a similar basis to that in England and Wales. These responsibilities are exercised through the Northern Ireland Court Service and in consultation with the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Court Service was created under the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978 as a" 578W "unified and distinct civil service of the Crown". Its principal functions are facilitating the business of the Supreme Court, county courts, magistrates' courts and coroners' courts; providing a facility for the enforcement of civil judgments; overseeing the administration of civil and criminal legal aid; and administering the office of the social security commissioners and child support commissioners. Its expenditure in 1995–96 is set out in table 3.
Table 1: 1995–96 spend by territory for vote categories Section of vote England Wales Total A (HQ)1 n/a n/a 81,680,457 B (Court Service)2 548,217,080 21,080,752 569,297,832 C (PTO)3 17,869,208 0 17,869,208 D (Legal Aid)4 n/a n/a 1,391,909,721 E (Legal Aid Administration)4 n/a n/a 54,899,562 F (costs from central funds)5 n/a n/a 23,987,026 G (Magistrates Courts grants) 285,622,425 17,613,843 303,236,268 H (Magistrates Courts grants on loan charges) 16,214,760 1,565,681 17,780,441 Total 2,460,660,514 1All HQ expenditure is made in England, however it could be argued that part of it (e.g. policy, personnel, pay unit) is on behalf of the Court Service for Wales. We have no method of attributing the expenditure on a territorial basis and can only provide a total figure. 2The Court Service split has been done on a circuit basis. The Wales figure is simply the expenditure for Wales and Chester circuit: this includes part of Cheshire. 3All of the PTO expenditure should be attributed to England. 4Expenditure on Legal Aid cannot be identified separately. The Legal Aid Board administers applications and bills regionally and payments to Welsh practitioners could only be identified by scrutinising each bill at the regional offices that cover Wales. Legal aid payments through the Crown Court are not separately recorded at county level. 5Costs from central funds: payments are made through the magistrates courts and the Crown Court. Payments are not recorded separately at county level and could only be identified by examining each claim.
Table 2: 1995–96 HM land registry spend by territory England £ Wales £ Total £ 180,205,000 11,977,000 192,182,000 HM Land Registry figures for spend in Wales represent the expenditure for Swansea District Land Registry. This office is responsible for all land registration services in Wales and also for the land registration services in the County of Hereford and Worcester and certain London boroughs. It is not possible to attribute expenditure on a territorial basis and therefore only a total figure can be provided.
Table 3: Spend for Northern Ireland for vote categories Total £ Northern Ireland Court Service 23,551,236 Legal Aid 25,891,474 Legal Aid Administration 1,992,000 Total 51,434,710