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Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if the new Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland has ever been a member of a political party. [10289]
Mr. Streeter: Judicial appointments are made on professional and personal merit. The Lord Chancellor does not require candidates for, or holders of, judicial office to declare their political affiliation.
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what procedures were followed in appointing the next Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland; in what ways the procedures differ from that for other United Kingdom jurisdictions; and when the appointment was announced. [10287]
Mr. Streeter: The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Lord Chancellor. In England and Wales, the Lord Chief Justice is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister, as is the Lord President in Scotland. The appointment of the right hon. Sir Robert Carswell as Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland was announced on 29 November 1996, and took effect on 6 January 1997.
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department which (a) bodies and (b) individuals were consulted about the appointment of the new Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. [10288]
Mr. Streeter: In making recommendations to the Queen in respect of senior judicial appointments, the Lord Chancellor has discretion to consult as he thinks fit, and such consultations are confidential.
13 Jan 1997 : Column: 9
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if the next Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland is or has been a member of (a) the Masonic Order, (b) the Orange Order and (c) other societies membership of which must be declared. [10545]
Mr. Streeter: Judicial appointments are made on professional and personal merit. The Lord Chancellor does not require candidates for, or holders of, judicial office to declare membership of any lawful organisation.
Consultants
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what estimates he has made of the amount spent on external consultants by his Department's non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years. [10176]
Mr. Streeter: The amount spent by the Department's NDPBs during the relevant financial years was as follows:
1991-92: £128,843
1992-93: £209,794
1993-94: £155,947
1994-95: £110,650
1995-96: £96,659.
Mr. Streeter: In response to the Cabinet Office report on the use of external consultants, the Lord Chancellor's Department corporate board issued a policy statement in June 1995 designed to help ensure value for money in the employment of consultants. It set the criteria for their use, operating principles and monitoring arrangements and included a requirement for ministerial approval for contracts where the final cost could exceed £20,000 and for an annual report to the Department's corporate board on the use of consultants. It covered recommendations 1, 2 and 12 of the Cabinet Office report.
Other actions taken are as follows:
13 Jan 1997 : Column: 10
The implications of recommendations 8, 11 to 18, 22 to 25 and 26 to 31 are dealt with by way of central guidance. The Department's procurement manual will be amended to reflect these recommendations.
Arrangements are in place to review the central guidance periodically and the internal assurance division has included the use of external consultants in its audit programme (recommendation 33).
Expenditure on consultants is identified separately in the departmental accounts (recommendation 3).
Arrangements are in place which require a business case and senior management authority for consultancy projects costing more than £10,000 (recommendation 6).
There are centres of expertise in the purchasing of consultancy skills. Each centre keeps under review, in consultation with managers, the contracts typically used for the employment of consultants (recommendations 9 and 20 to 21).
Although the DTI database for the use of consultants is not available, the LCD is establishing its own (recommendation 10).
The LCD's procurement services division submitted its first annual report to the corporate board, which was approved on 3 October 1996 (recommendation 32).
Although recommendations, 5, 7, 10, 19 and 34 are supported, they are not for the LCD to implement.
Legal Services
Mr. Barnes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what estimate he has made of the average length of time that cases were before the legal services ombudsman before an investigating officer was appointed in each of the last three years. [10445]
Mr. Streeter: The legal services ombudsman considers that cases are properly before him only when he is satisfied that the matter falls within his jurisdiction and he has obtained the case file from the relevant professional body. The average interval from receipt of the professional body file to allocation to an investigating officer is:
- 1994 four to five months
- 1995 five to six months
- 1996 six to seven months.
Green Form Scheme
Mr. Keith Hill: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what percentage of (a) the population of and (b) households in England and Wales were eligible for (i) civil legal aid and (ii) legal advice and assistance under the green form scheme, in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [10438]
Mr. Streeter: We have no reliable means of estimating the percentage of the population eligible for civil legal aid. The most recent estimates of the percentage of households eligible for civil legal aid in each of the five years up to 1996-97 are:
| Financial year | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 1992-93 | 53 |
| 1993-94 | 48 |
| 1994-95 | 50 |
| 1995-96 | 50 |
| 1996-97 | 48 |
We do not collect information on eligibility for legal advice and assistance under the green form scheme.
Ernest Saunders
Mr. John Marshall: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the amount of legal aid paid to Mr. Ernest Saunders in the cases resulting from the Guinness affair. [10485]
Mr. Streeter: The sum of £1,286,234 was paid to Mr. Saunders' legal representatives for work done in relation to the Crown court proceedings resulting from investigations into the takeover by Guinness of the Distillers Group. A further amount of £296,111 was paid in relation to proceedings in the Court of Appeal. Legal aid is not available for proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights.
The total amount paid in legal aid in relation to R v. Saunders is therefore £1,582,345.
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Mr. Keith Hill:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list (a) the areas in which transaction criteria have been published and the date of publication and (b) the areas in which transaction criteria are still being developed and the expected date of publication. [10436]
Mr. Streeter:
Transaction criteria were published, ahead of the introduction of the Legal Aid Board's franchising scheme, in July 1994, in the nine franchised areas of work, as follows: family matrimonial, personal injury, employment, debt, contract, housing, immigration, welfare benefits, criminal litigation. I am informed by the chief executive that the Legal Aid Board is currently looking at areas where the scope of transaction criteria might be extended.
Transaction criteria have recently been drafted to extend the audit scope within the welfare benefits and housing categories. It is expected that these will be published in April 1997, ahead of implementation.
Mr. Keith Hill:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department on how many occasions the franchising advisory Committee has met; when it plans to meet next; and if he will make a statement.[10435]
Mr. Streeter:
The franchising advisory committee--FAC--was established to facilitate communication and consultation with the legal profession and its representative bodies during the early development of the Legal Aid Board's franchising scheme following its introduction in August 1994. I am informed by the board's chief executive that the committee met on two occasions. In December 1996, the Legal Aid Board decided that the committee should be discontinued, as more effective mechanisms for communication and consultation had been developed. Members of the FAC have been informed of this decision.
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