§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the potential for conflict of interest when legal aid managers award legal aid to clients of solicitors' firms in which their spouses are partners. [119698]
§ Mr. LockBefore the establishment of the Legal Services Commission on 1 April 2000, the Legal Aid Board was responsible for granting applications for legal aid. In 1998, the Board introduced a Code of Conduct for its staff. All key members of staff were required to ensure that any possible conflicts of interest were identified at an early stage and that appropriate action was taken to resolve them.
The requirements under the Staff Code of Conduct continue to apply to all staff of the Legal Services Commission, which is the successor to the Legal Aid Board. Where a conflict of interest is reported, the Senior Manager will make arrangements to ensure that the staff member concerned is not involved in any decision relating to the award or management of legal aid, or funding under the Access to Justice Act 1999, to the firm or organisation in which he or she has an interest.
§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what has been the total cost of(a) civil and (b) criminal legal aid in Northern Ireland in each year since 1990. [119696]
§ Mr. LockNet expenditure in relation to civil legal aid, advice by way of representation, legal advice and assistance and criminal legal aid in Northern Ireland since 1990–91 is as follows: 629W
£ million Civil ABWOR LAA Criminal Total 1990–91 2.89 1.30 2.20 5.80 12.19 1991–92 3.45 1.37 2.83 7.17 14.82 1992–93 3.73 1.64 4.93 9.61 19.91 1993–94 3.62 1.49 5.21 6.68 17.00 1994–95 4.38 1.29 4.67 9.59 19.93 1995–96 4.64 1.28 5.68 14.18 25.78 1996–97 5.68 1.46 4.60 14.33 26.07 1997–98 5.75 1.87 3.68 17.55 28.85 1998–99 6.47 1.45 6.24 15.93 30.09
§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the firms of solicitors in Northern Ireland with clients who have received(a) civil and (b) criminal legal aid each year since 1990; and how much (i) civil and (ii) criminal legal aid they received. [119697]
§ Mr. LockThe administration of the legal aid scheme in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Law Society of Northern Ireland under the Legal Aid, Advice and Assistance (Northern Ireland) Order 1981. This function is exercised through the Legal Aid Committee which is a Committee of the Council of the Law Society of Northern Ireland and the Legal Aid Department which is a Department of the Law Society. The Legal Aid Department is also responsible for the administration of criminal legal aid on the Lord Chancellor's behalf.
The number of firms of solicitors in Northern Ireland with clients who have received civil legal aid since 1997, excluding advice by way of representation and legal advice and assistance, is 484. For the same period the number of firms of solicitors in Northern Ireland with clients who have received criminal legal aid is 452. Copies of the lists have been laid in the Library of the House of Commons.
The amounts received by these firms of solicitors for civil legal aid and criminal legal aid in 1997–98 and 1998–99 were as follows:
£ million Civil Criminal 1997–98 2.99 8.10 1998–99 3.37 6.71 A breakdown of the amount paid to each firm in each year since 1990 could only be determined by undertaking a vast amount of work on the Legal Aid Department's former and now obsolete computer, checking manual records and extracting information of part of a year for the new computer system, which is currently being installed. This work would disrupt the implementation of the new computer system and divert staff from their tasks of processing legal aid applications. Accordingly the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.