APPENDIX 16
Memorandum submitted by The National Audit
Office
QUALIFICATION OF
THE LEGAL
AID FUND
(NORTHERN IRELAND)
ACCOUNTS 1996-97 AND
1997-98
1. The audit opinion on the Legal Aid Fund
(Northern Ireland) accounts for 1996-97 and 1997-98 were qualified
by the Comptroller and Auditor General because there was evidence
that material amounts were not spent in the manner that Parliament
intended.
2. As the Committee will be aware, the
Legal Aid Advice and Assistance (Northern Ireland) Order 1981
sets out the eligibility conditions under which free legal advice
and assistance can be provided by solicitors. The conditions include
being in receipt of a qualifying social security benefit. In both
of the financial years in question, audit procedures found that
significant numbers of legal advice and assistance claimants were
not in receipt of a qualifying benefit, but were still awarded
legal aid. This affected 10 per cent of the claims in 1996-97
and 9.5 per cent of claims in 1997-98. On investigation, the National
Audit Office found that the Legal Aid Department did not verify
the correctness of declarations by applicants that were in receipt
of the relevant social security benefits.
3. The Northern Ireland Courts Service and
Legal Aid Department took a number of steps to address the issues
raised in the Comptroller and Auditor General's reports explaining
the qualifications (attached to the financial statements for 1996-97
and 1997-98). These included, in March 1998, amending the form
of consent that each applicant must sign before applying for legal
aid, to allow the Legal Aid Department to take necessary steps
to verify the accuracy of information provided on application
forms. In the same month the Department also reached an agreement
with the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency that the latter
would undertake to verify the correctness of a sample of applicants
who stated they were in receipt of benefit. As a consequence of
improvements, the Comptroller and Auditor General has been able
to give unqualified opinions on the financial statements of the
Northern Ireland Legal Aid Fund for the financial years since
1998-99.
VALUE FOR
MONEY REPORTS
ON LEGAL
AID
4. The Comptroller and Auditor General has
produced two Value for Money reports on Legal Aid in England and
Wales (copies enclosed). These reports, both produced in 1996,
covered:
— Civil legal aid means testing, HC
242 (1995-96); and
— Criminal legal aid means testing
in the magistrates' courts, HC 615 (1995-96).
5. The main findings of each report related
to the lack of confirmation of information supplied by applicants
for legal aid and lack of sufficient guidance for staff within
the Assessment Office on the identification of claims that may
be incorrect. The reports' recommendations included improved guidance
for staff and cross checks to other information sources should
be carried our as a matter of course to verify applicants' data.
Unlike the financial audit work mentioned previously, these reports
did not deal with the operation of the scheme in Northern Ireland.
However, the recommendations are likely to have had a general
application to the operation of the scheme in Northern Ireland
and may be worthy of note by the proposed Legal Services Commission
of Northern Ireland.
12 March 2001
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