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Confiscation Unit
Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Attorney-General how many full-time staff there are in the confiscation unit of the Department of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland. [17147]
The Attorney-General: The Department of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland has no separate confiscation unit. Two lawyers on the director's staff are nominated to deal with confiscation as part of their duties.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Legal Aid
Mr. John Marshall: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to strengthen the arrangements for means-testing applicants for legal aid. [18424]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: The Lord Chancellor has today laid before Parliament regulations which will:
- (a) provide those assessing the means of applicants for legal aid with a discretionary power to include in the means assessment the assets of friends, relatives and children where these appear to be providing a significant material advantage to the applicant;
(b) place a limit of £100,000 on the amount of equity value in a house that is ignored in the legal aid means assessment. The regulations also limit the maximum amount of mortgage that can be offset against the equity value of a house to £100,000 and limit the amount of mortgage repayment allowable against income to the amount due on a £100,000 mortgage.
Both these measures are being taken as a result of the consultation exercise on legal aid for the "apparently wealthy" which was undertaken in 1995.
Also as a result of the consultation exercise, the Lord Chancellor announced last year that he intended that a special investigations unit should be established to handle legal aid means assessments where the applicant's financial circumstances are exceptionally complex. He invited the Legal Aid Board to advise him on the feasibility of establishing such a unit.
The Legal Aid Board has now submitted its report and I have placed a copy in the library. The Lord Chancellor has accepted the central recommendations in the report
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and has invited the Legal Aid Board to take the necessary steps to ensure that the special investigations unit is fully operational as soon as possible.
The special investigations unit will build on the prototype of such a unit set up by the Benefits Agency in its legal aid assessment office at Preston in June 1995. This unit is already investigating certain cases.
Initially, the unit will deal with applications for civil legal aid, but it will be extended as soon as possible to cover both civil and criminal legal aid. Referrals to the unit will be made, in civil cases, by the Legal Aid Board or the existing staff of the legal aid assessment office and, in criminal cases, by the court or court clerk. They will be invited to refer cases to the unit when:
The Government are fully committed to ensuring that legal aid is granted only to those who are entitled, under the regulations, to receive it, and believe that the establishment, and further development, of the special investigations unit is an important step in meeting that commitment.
Mr. Winnick:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when he first consulted other Cabinet Ministers about the contents of the report of the Scott inquiry; where and when such discussions took place; and with whom. [16638]
Mr. Jonathan Evans:
It is not the practice to give details of ministerial meetings.
Mrs. Clwyd:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to paragraph K8.1 of the Scott report relating to ministerial accountability, what additional measures he proposes to ensure his Department's compliance with paragraph 27 of "Questions of Procedure for Ministers." [17303]
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Mr. Jonathan Evans:
I refer the hon. Member to the speech made by my hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade on 26 February, Official Report, columns 589-604.
Mrs. Clwyd:
To ask the Prime Minister if information communicated by the United Nations special commission to the International Atomic Energy Agency by Her Majesty's Government on British companies which supplied materials relevant to Iraqi programmes to acquire weapons of mass destruction, was communicated to the Scott inquiry in its entirety. [17321]
The Prime Minister
[holding answers 26 February 1996]: Yes, insofar as it related to the period covered by the inquiry's terms of reference.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Prime Minister what representations he received from Ministers at the time he established the Scott inquiry in respect of (a) the remit and (b) the format of the inquiry. [17701]
The Prime Minister:
My discussions with Ministers are private.
Mr. Smith:
To ask the Prime Minister (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the Iraq note referred to on page 439 of the Scott report; [17702]
The Prime Minister:
This document was submitted as evidence to Sir Richard Scott's inquiry. I understand that Sir Richard Scott proposes to publish as soon as possible any documents which he considers relevant to his report, consistent with his procedures.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Prime Minister what response he plans to make to the representations made by the secretary of the Scott inquiry concerning the nature of statements by various Ministers following the press conference held by Sir Richard Scott on 15 February. [17777]
The Prime Minister:
A reply has been sent to the secretary of the inquiry's letter on this matter. As the inquiry's letter has been widely quoted and reproduced in the media, this reply was made public.
The inquiry wrote again subsequently making it clear that Sir Richard's view applied to any summary of his report, whether by Government, Opposition or the media.
Mr. Kirkwood:
To ask the Prime Minister if he will place copies of ministerial and departmental responses to the first draft of Sir Richard Scott's report of the inquiry into the sale of arms to Iraq in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [17819]
The Prime Minister
[holding answer 27 February 1996]: Departments' closing statements to the Scott inquiry have already been published in part B of volume V of the Scott inquiry report. I understand that Sir Richard Scott proposes to publish as soon as possible documents that he considers relevant to his report, consistent with
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his procedures. However, paragraph B3.11 of the report records that, in the interests of fairness, Sir Richard does not propose to publish comments submitted by witnesses on the draft report.
Mr. Kirkwood:
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list all the people who received copies of the Scott report in advance of the official publication date; and if he will make a statement. [17818]
The Prime Minister
[holding answer 17 February 1996]: The following Ministers received advance copies of Sir Richard Scott's report: the Prime Minister; the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary; the President of the Board of Trade; the Chief Secretary to the Treasury; the Secretary of State for Defence and the Attorney-General.
In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry, the Paymaster General and the Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service, had access to the report prior to publication, in accordance with the terms laid down by the Scott inquiry.
A small number of civil servants in the main Departments concerned also received advance copies.
The unit will be headed by a qualified accountant and will be empowered to seek outside expert assistance when this seems appropriate.
(a) they are of the opinion that the means information provided merits further investigation, verification or expect evaluation by the special investigations unit, and
(b) one or more of the following appears to apply:
(i) the applicant or partner has assets overseas;
(ii) the applicant or partner has access to assets or income apparently owned by others;
(iii) the applicant or partner has a wealthy life style, such as an expensive car, house or jewellery, or is able to indulge in significant foreign travel;
(iv) the applicant or partner has interests in a business with substantial assets;
(v) the applicant or partner has other complex personal financial affairs, which may include persona insolvency or having assets subject to a mareva injunction or an asset freezing order;
(vi) legal claims of significant value are being pursued by or against the applicant or partner;
(vii) the applicant or partner is reputed to have significant income or assets;
(viii) the applicant or partner has re-arranged his or her financial affairs so that he or she now apparently qualifies for legal aid.
(2) if he will now place in the Library a copy of the information note prepared by his private secretary on 3 December 1990. [17786]
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