Letter from the Rt Hon Shaun Woodward
MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, to Sir Patrick Cormack
MP, Chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
At my recent appearance before the Northern
Ireland Affairs Committee, I offered to provide you with a detailed
explanation of the measures my office has taken to control legal
costs in relation to the Robert Hamill, Rosemary Nelson and Billy
Wright Inquiries.
For all three inquiries, we have set maximum
fee levels for lawyers who are publicly funded and caps on the
number of hours that they may claim for each week. These fees
are based on advice from the Treasury Solicitor's Department about
the appropriate hourly rates. The hourly rates for lawyers who
are being publicly funded to provide legal assistance for interested
parties and witnesses to the inquiries must not exceed the following:
| — | Senior Counsel
| £200 |
— | Leading Junior Counsel
| £175 (relevant to Hamill Inquiry only)
|
— | Junior Counsel
| £100 |
— | Solicitors |
£150 |
| |
|
In addition to this, there is a general cap of 40 hours a
week that may be claimed. This may be extended to 60 hours during
the oral hearings, and a two month period before they commence,
which is authorised by the Inquiry Chairman, provided this is
justified in all the circumstances.
These limitations are enforced in respect of the Wright and
Hamill Inquiries by means of a formal Notice of Determination
under section 40(4) of the Inquiries Act 2005 which allows me
to place qualifications and conditions on publicly funded legal
assistance awarded by the Chairman. The Inquiries Act also places
a statutory duty on the Chairman (in section 17) to have regard
to the need to avoid unnecessary cost in every procedural decision
that he makes.
The Nelson Inquiry has also been formally instructed to operate
within these limits. It operates under the Police (Northern Ireland)
Act 1998, which means that I retain responsibility for decisions
about funding of legal representation, although in practice the
day-to-day decisions are taken by the inquiry. A Delegation Notice
enables the Inquiry Chairman to authorise legal payments within
certain parameters. The Inquiry Solicitor refers any request for
publicly funded legal assistance that falls outside this delegation
to my office for consideration.
The Rt Hon Shaun Woodward MP
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
9 July 2008
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