HC Deb 03 July 1997 vol 297 cc222-3W
Mr. Dismore

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellors Department what was(a) the annual cost of legal aid for personal injury litigation before cost recovery and retention of contributions, (b) the amount of costs recovered, (c) the amount of contributions retained and (d) the net cost after deduction of costs recovered and contributions retained, for (i) all personal injury litigation, (ii) medical negligence cases only and (iii) personal injury cases only, excluding medical negligence, in each of the last four financial years. [5808]

Mr. Hoon

A breakdown of legal aid expenditure and receipts in respect of personal injury litigation in each of the last four years for which information is available, in respect of cases that were closed in each year, was as follows:

£ million
1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96
Gross payments
All personal injury litigation 143.5 195.6 238.2 284.7
Medical Negligence 20.6 34.1 38.6 50.2
All personal injury (excluding medical negligence) 122.9 161.5 199.6 234.5
Costs recovered
All personal injury litigation 104.3 138.7 166.4 205.2
Medical Negligence 9.4 11.2 13.3 22.0
All personal injury (excluding medical negligence) 94.9 127.5 153.1 183.2
Contributions retained
All personal injury litigation 1.1 1.6 1.8 2.1
Medical Negligence 0.3 0.6 0.6 0.7
All personal injury (excluding medical negligence) 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

£ million
1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96
Net of costs recovered and contributions retained
All personal injury litigation 38.1 55.2 70.0 77.3
Medical Negligence 11.0 22.3 24.5 27.5
All personal injury (excluding medical negligence) 27.1 32.9 45.5 49.8
Net of costs recovered, contributions retained and damages retained
All personal injury litigation 35.2 52.0 66.6 72.8
Medical Negligence 10.8 22.0 24.0 26.8
All personal injury (excluding medical negligence) 24.4 30.0 42.6 46.0