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21 Jul 2004 : Column 376W—continued
Legal Services Commission
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans there are to charge interest on sums owed to the Legal Services Commission. [185032]
Mr. Lammy: The Legal Services Commission already attaches interest to the majority of debts attributable to it. Cases relating to the statutory charge have since 1988 attached interest. The rate of interest is linked to the Bank of England base rate and currently stands at 5 per cent. simple interest. £50 million of the gross debt due to the Commission relates to interest.
Of other debts due to the Commission interest is not sought as they are normally payable immediately. Where it is necessary to pursue them through the issue of court proceedings interest at the standard debt rate (8 per cent.) is claimed.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will break down by type of debt the money owed to the Legal Services Commission. [185950]
Mr. Lammy: The break down by type of debt of the money owed to the Legal Services in 2003–04 is as follows:
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Contribution due from funded clients | 29,509 |
| Costs to be recovered | 25,431 |
| Statutory charge | 263,896 |
| Damages | 12,904 |
| Amounts due from suppliers | 31,718 |
| Recovery of defence costs orders | 1,722 |
| Accrued income European social fund | 82 |
| Prepayments and other accrued income | 404 |
| Total | 365,666 |
Legal Services Direct
Mr. Djanogly:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many
21 Jul 2004 : Column 377W
telephone advisers will provide advisory services for Community Legal Services Direct (a) in total and (b) at any one time. [185150]
Mr. Lammy: The Community Legal Service (CLS) Direct helpline has 50 'full time equivalent' advisers. 41.5 advisers offer advice in three categories of law (debt, welfare benefits and education) in England and Wales and 8.5 advisers are contracted to offer advice in housing and employment law in particular targeted areas. There are also non-qualified call centre agents, providing services within the CLS Direct telephone system in relation to the CLS Directory and leaflets. Four more advisers, focusing on debt, benefits and housing advice in Wales, are planned to come on stream in late summer.
There is no fixed number of advisers present at any given time. The national helpline service has been designed to be able to react to demand and the Legal Services Commission monitors the distribution of calls throughout the day working with its contractors to ensure that the number of advisers available is proportionate to demand.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much the Government grant to Legal Services Direct is for the next financial year. [185218]
Mr. Lammy:
No separate allocation for Community Legal Service Direct has been allowed in the total funding for the Legal Services Commission for 2005–06.
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The overall cost of Community Legal Service Direct in 2004–05 is expected to be £6.5 million.
This is made up of the cost of the national telephone service, the website (formerly JustAsk!), CLS Directory and CLS information leaflets.
It includes all payments made to technical contractors, contracted telephone advisors, all staffing and management costs within the Community Legal Service Direct team, and associated promotional costs.
Solicitors
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans the Government has for reducing unproductive time spent by defence solicitors in (a) courts and (b) police stations. [185034]
Mr. Lammy: The Government are anxious to ensure that solicitors' time is spent productively at court and at police stations. Last year we consulted on proposals to focus both the court duty solicitor scheme and the police station duty solicitor scheme on those cases where an individual's liberty was at real risk or where an individual's interests could be properly advanced. These changes were introduced in regulations and in the General Criminal Contract on 17 May 2004. The Fundamental Legal Aid Review (FLAR) is looking at the efficiencies of the processes for defence solicitors in police stations, as is the Effective Trial Management Programme (ETMP) for the courts.