§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list the QCs who received the highest overall payments(a) from the Community Legal Service budget and (b) from the Criminal Defence Service budget in 2002–03 [141417]
§ Mr. LammyThe highest total payments made directly from the Community Legal Service fund during 2002–03 were to Lord Brennan QC. Lord Brennan received £606,000 to the nearest thousand.
The highest value of aggregated payments made from the Criminal Defence Service budget during 2002–03 were to Mr James Sturman QC. Mr Sturman received in the region of £620,000.
Care should be taken not to misinterpret these payments as an indication of annual earnings for work carried out in the year for the following reasons:
Payments made during any financial year will include payments for work carried out before the start of the year, and will include payments for cases which started and concluded over several years.Payments received during any financial year do not necessarily mean that they were paid for work carried out at the rank of QC. Barristers may be paid directly by an instructing solicitor as part a solicitors disbursement.The figures quoted above are gross payments and are inclusive of VAT, and may include payments on account where applicable as well as travel and hotel expenses incurred.