§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on his Department's policy when(a) conducting legal proceedings and (b) seeking legal advice as to the circumstances in which Queen's Counsel should be instructed; and for each of the last three years (i) on how many occasions his Department instructed Queen's Counsel and (ii) what was the total cost of instructing Queen's Counsel. [81771]
The Solicitor-GeneralThe Crown Prosecution Service, the Treasury Solicitor's Department, the Serious Fraud Office and the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers predominantly use junior counsel when it is necessary to instruct counsel to provide legal advice or to conduct legal proceedings
In civil cases, the two First Treasury Counsel are both junior counsel and they will advise and represent the Government without a Queen's Counsel in many of their important cases. In addition, the Attorney-General maintains four panels of junior counsel whom Departments are expected to use for the majority of the Government's civil litigation. The Attorney-General's approval, or mine, is required before a Queen's Counsel can be instructed to appear for any Department in civil litigation.
A panel of Senior Treasury Counsel and Junior Treasury Counsel, who are all junior counsel, exists in London to provide advice in more significant criminal case work, and to handle the most serious and complex work at the Central Criminal Court. More generally, the Crown Prosecution Service maintains circuit-based lists of junior counsel to conduct almost all its criminal case work in the Crown Court in England and Wales. Outside London, Queen's Counsel are instructed in all contested murder cases, and occasionally in other very serious or complex case work prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Given the complexity and seriousness of its cases, the Serious Fraud Office usually instructs Queen's Counsel to advise and conduct its prosecutions.
In determining the level of counsel to use, the Department will consider the individual circumstances of each case. It will take into account, inter alia, the importance and sensitivity of the case, the complexity of 2W the law, the weight and complexity of the evidence, and the degree of experience and expertise required before deciding whether to instruct Queen's Counsel or junior counsel.
However, records are not maintained in a form which would enable the number of occasions on which the Attorney-General's Department instructed Queen's Counsel in the last three years, and the cost of doing so, to be given without incurring disproportionate cost.