Written evidence submitted by David Lavery,
Director, Northern Ireland Court Service
NORTHERN IRELAND
COURT SERVICE
MEMORANDUM: SPRING
SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES
A. LEGAL AID
SR2000 provision for legal aid
1. The total legal aid provision in Northern
Ireland is £42.888 million for each year covered by SR2000.
Expenditure on legal aid for the year ended 31 March 2002 was
£45.837 million. This overspend was funded by the redistribution
of resources within the Northern Ireland Court Service (the Court
Service). The projected total expenditure for the current year
(ie the year ending 31 March 2003) is £50.5 million. This
represents an increase of 17.8% on the SR2000 allocation, and
an increase of 10.2% compared to the previous year.
Background to legal aid system
2. In Northern Ireland statutory responsibility
for administering legal aid is vested in the Law Society of Northern
Ireland through its Legal Aid Committee and Legal Aid Department.
The Lord Chancellor is the Minister responsible for legal aid
policy and for funding the legal aid system.
3. Legal aid work in Northern Ireland is remunerated
under the statutory principle of allowing fair remuneration according
to work reasonably undertaken and properly done. Costs are largely
determined ex-post facto. Bills are settled once a case is completed
and payment does not under current arrangements take account of
affordability to the public purse.
4. In criminal cases, which account for approximately
60% of the legal aid budget, the power to grant or refuse legal
aid is vested in the court. Fees are assessed under the Legal
Aid in Criminal Proceedings (Costs) Rules 1992. The Supreme Court
Taxing Master and the courts have supervisory control over the
level of fees to ensure they represent fair and reasonable remuneration.
5. Under these statutory arrangements the Court
Service has limited scope to achieve effectivebudgetary control
over legal aid expenditure, and average case costs for legal aid
cases have risen year on year.
Legal aid reform
6. The Court Service is engaged in a programme
of major legislative reform to take control of the level of public
funding allocated to the provision of legal services. This reform
will be achieved under the Access to Justice (Northern Ireland)
Order 2003, which received Royal Assent on 27 February. The first
element of this reform will be the establishment of a Legal Services
Commission which will assume responsibility from the Law Society
for the administration of all publicly funded legal services in
Northern Ireland. Responsibility for administering legal aid will
transfer from the Law Society to the Commission this Autumn.
7. The Government's proposals for legal aid reform
were the subject of reports by both the Northern Ireland Affairs
Committee [HC 444] and by the Northern Ireland Assembly [04/01R
(Ad Hoc Committee)].
B. RECONCILIATION
OF THE
SPRING SUPPLEMENTARY
ESTIMATE TO
THE MAIN
ESTIMATE
8. The Spring Supplementary Estimate proposed
the following principal changes to the Main Estimate for 2002/03:
— to take up £1,581,000 of administration
End Year Flexibility (EYF);
— to take up £1,475,000 of capital
EYF;
— to take up £1,955,000 of legal
aid related EYF; and
— to take up £271,000 of non-voted
EYF in respect of judicial salaries paid from the Consolidated
Fund.
9. The proposals also provided for the following
additional measures:
— £1,581,000 of administration
EYF to be vired to capital provision;
— £3,212,000 of programme provision,
from Request for Resources 1 (RfR 1) to be vired to Request for
Resources 2 (RfR 2) for legal aid;
— £3,500,000 of additional receipts
to be offset against Non voted expenditure on judicial salaries;
— this reduction in expenditure allowed
additional equivalent cover to be applied to Legal Aid;
— this arrangement was arrived at following
advice from HM Treasury to provide additional cover for an overspend
on RfR 2.
10. The virement from RfR 1 (Programme) of £3,212,000,
plus £1,955,000 EYF, and £3,500,000 additional receipts
make up the £8,667,000 additional funding required.
11. The following changes arose as a consequence
of the above:
— Administration provision was reduced
by £1,581,000 (after take up of EYF);
— Programme provision was reduced by
£3,212,000. However, because HM Treasury rules prohibit a
donor RfR from being reduced when virement to a second RfR is
required, this reduction is shown as an adjustment in the Resource
to Cash Reconciliation and not in the main Part II table;
— Capital Expenditure was increased
by £3,056,000 [£1,475,000 (EYF) and £1,581,000
(transfer from
Administration)];
— Legal Aid Expenditure provision was
directly increased by £5,167,000 [£1,955,000 (EYF) and
£3,212,000 transferred from Programme] and indirectly by
a further £3,500,000, which would be netted off against the
reduction in Non voted expenditure;
— Net Consolidated Fund expenditure
would be £1,937,000 [provision of £5,166,000 plus £271,000
(EYF) less £3,500,000 additional receipts].
12. The Net Resource Outturn (ie voted resource
DEL and AME) after the Spring Supplementary would be £104,101,000
and capital DEL will be £9,056,000 (increased from £6,000,000
by take up of £1,475,000 EYF and £1,581,000 transferred
from RfR 1 admin EYF).
13. In addition to the above changes, the Spring
Supplementary also introduced the effects of the re-classification
of Administration provision to Programme, which is described in
more detail below. A total of £26,600,000 was reclassified
from RfR 1 line A to RfR 1 line B. Furthermore provision in Annually
Managed Expenditure was split with £9,700,000 being similarly
re-classified.
C. RECLASSIFICATION
OF PROVISION
FROM ADMINISTRATION
OF PROGRAMME
14. A review of the structure of the Northern
Ireland Court Service's estimate was carried out in response to
Principal Finance Officer letter MS PFO (02) 40, inviting Departments
to consider reclassification of Administration provision to Programme
in order to better reflect the proportion of provision expended
in direct frontline customer services. This reclassification would
only apply where proposals satisfied the core criteria of costs
directly associated with frontline service delivery. The previous
Estimate structure had meant that most provision relating to frontline
services remained in Administration and Programme provision was
restricted mostly to the judiciary and jury related expenditure.
15. This reclassification exercise resulted in
£26,600,000 being moved to Programme.
16. HM Treasury approval was received by letter
dated 2 January 2003.
Northern Ireland Court Service
24 March 2003
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