Legal Aid (Hansard, 31 January 1997)

§ Mr. Ainger
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what are the penalties for breaching legal aid regulations. [13804]

§ Mr. Streeter
The Legal Aid Board has power to revoke or discharge a civil legal aid certificate where information comes to light that the assisted person has intentionally failed to comply with the legal aid regulations. The assisted person may also be prosecuted under section 39 of the Legal Aid Act 1988 leading, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale—currently £2,5000—or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months, or to both.
Where an assisted person's solicitor has failed to comply with any provision of the legal aid regulations, and as a result the fund incurs a loss, the Legal Aid Board may defer all or part of the solicitor's profit costs until the solicitor has complied with such provisions. If the board refers the solicitor's conduct to the solicitors' disciplinary tribunal and the solicitor is disciplined, the board may retain any deferred profit costs.

§ Mr. Ainger
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department by what means his Department is able to waive costs under the statutory charge when an investigation reveals legal aid has been fraudulently claimed and made the legal liability of the assisted party. [13802]

§ Mr. Streeter
The Lord Chancellor does not have a power to waive costs under the statutory charge. The operation of the charge is provided for in section 16 of the Legal Aid Act 1988 and the relevant regulations, and the Legal Aid Board must comply with these provisions.

§ Mr. Ainger
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will conduct an investigation independent of the Legal Aid Board into the circumstances relating to the transfer of legal aid certificate No. 05/01/89/23181J on 10 September 1990 and subsequent amendments to that certificate through to its discharge. [13803]

§ Mr. Streeter
Under the Legal Aid Act 1988, the Legal Aid Board is responsible for the administration of the civil legal aid scheme in England and Wales. Neither the Lord Chancellor nor I comment on or intervene in the award of legal aid in individual cases.

§ Mr. Ainger
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department by what mechanisms his Department investigates and rectified(a) identified abuse 386W of civil legal aid and (b) miscarriages of civil legal procedure resulting from the abuse of legal aid regulations. [13805]

§ Mr. Streeter
Under the Legal Aid Act 1988, the Legal Aid Board is responsible for the administration of the civil legal aid scheme in England and Wales. Investigations into the abuse of legal aid are the responsibility of the Legal Aid Board.
If abuse of the legal aid scheme is identified, the Lord Chancellor may consider changes to regulations where necessary. One recent example of this is the introduction of new regulations to assess the financial means of "apparently wealthy" applicants. The Lord Chancellor also asked the Legal Aid Board to establish a special investigations unit to investigate the means of applicants whose financial circumstances are particularly complex.