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21 July 2009 : Column 1160W—continued
Prosecutors: Training
David Howarth: To ask the Solicitor-General what training is given to prosecutors who appear in youth courts to enable them to take account of the age and welfare needs of those aged under 18 years. [284301]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) provides a three-day training course, accredited by the Law Society and the Bar Council, that equips prosecutors to conduct youth court cases in a manner that takes into account the age, welfare and developmental needs of young defendants. The CPS also holds regular seminars and an annual inter-agency conference to inform prosecutors of legal, policy and practical developments affecting young defendants.
Solicitor-General: Meetings
Lynne Jones: To ask the Solicitor-General who else attended the meeting on 13 March 2003 between the then Attorney-General, Lord Falconer, and Baroness Morgan; what subjects were discussed at that meeting; what the duration of the meeting was; and whether an official record of the meeting was kept. [281455]
The Solicitor-General: The meeting is referred to in the disclosure statement made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by the Cabinet Office and the (then) Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers on 22 May 2006. The statement can be found on the website of the Attorney General's Office at:
No further information about the meeting is held.
Treasury Counsel
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make it her policy to employ Treasury Counsel on a permanent basis rather than engaging them on a case by case basis with a view to reducing expenditure on legal fees. [267045]
The Solicitor-General: The practice whereby First Treasury Counsel and the members of the Attorney-General's panel of civil counsel are engaged, as practising members of the Bar, to undertake work on individual cases on behalf of Government has served successive Administrations well. There is no intention at present to cease that practice and to engage them on a permanent basis as civil servants.
Treasury Solicitors Department
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General what records exist of payments made by the Treasury Solicitor's Department to counsel instructed by it. [267491]
The Solicitor-General: The Treasury Solicitor's Department maintains electronic and paper records in relation to all payments made to counsel instructed by it. This will include information about disbursements and VAT.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General which lawyers working in the Treasury Solicitor's Department have professional practising certificates. [267495]
The Solicitor-General: The Bar Council requires barristers who are employed by the Treasury Solicitor's Department to hold practising certificates. Therefore all those members of staff who are members of the Bar hold practising certificates. The Department's staff who are members of the Law Society are not required to hold practising certificates and therefore the Department does not hold records of those members of staff who are solicitors and hold practising certificates.
Treasury Solicitors Department: Complaints
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General what mechanisms are in place to provide redress for individuals in circumstances in which the professional service provided by the Treasury Solicitor's Department is found to have been inadequate. [267479]
The Solicitor-General:
The Treasury Solicitor's Department, in common with other Government Departments, has a complaints procedure for external complaints which is publicly available on its website. As well as this internal complaints procedure, an individual who considers that he or she has suffered an injustice as
a result of maladministration by the Department may, through his or her Member of Parliament, make a complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, and details of how to do so are also included on the Department's website.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General what requirements there are on the Treasury Solicitor's Department in respect of complaints made to it under the Lexcel procedures. [267496]
The Solicitor-General: The requirements are that there should be compliance with Rule 2 of the Solicitors' Code of Conduct, which addresses client relations and, among other matters, covers the provision of information on complaints.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General how many complaints have been made to the Treasury Solicitor's Department which have been recorded and processed under the Lexcel procedure in the last 12 months; and how many such complaints have still to be processed. [267497]
The Solicitor-General: Treasury Solicitors has recorded 20 external complaints under its complaints procedure (in compliance with Lexcel) within the last 12 months. Of these complaints 18 have been processed and two are outstanding.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General what procedures are adopted by (a) the Treasury Solicitor, including by a delegation to his Deputy, and (b) the Law Officers in response to complaints against the Treasury Solicitor or counsel instructed by the Treasury Solicitor that they are acting for parties who claim to be independent of each other. [267498]
The Solicitor-General: The information is as follows:
(a) The detail of procedures adopted by the Treasury Solicitor's Department in respect of complaints that it receives has been set out in the answer to question 267479.
(b) The position in respect of the Treasury Solicitor's Department acting for more than one part of the Crown, or on behalf of bodies or persons who are not the Crown, is set out in the answer to question 267499.
Treasury Solicitors Department: Conflict of Interests
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General (1) what procedures exist within the Treasury Solicitor's Department to ensure that (a) the Treasury Solicitor's Department and (b) counsel receiving instructions when acting for more than one legal entity in the same case record any conflict of interest; [267499]
(2) what guidance the Treasury Solicitor's Department provides to its legal staff to ensure that legal professionalism is maintained in respect of potential conflicts of interest; [267950]
(3) what procedures there are to ensure that counsel instructed by the Treasury Solicitor do not act for parties with separate interests in disputes in which the Treasury Solicitor acts for more than one party and may have instructed the same counsel for more than one such party. [267951]
The Solicitor-General: The Treasury Solicitor's Department takes its understanding of the concept of "conflict of interest" from the Law Society's Solicitors' Code of Conduct.
When the Treasury Solicitor, or counsel instructed by the Treasury Solicitor, acts for a Secretary of State, a Minister or a Government Department or agency, the client is the Crown itself (which is to say, the Crown in right of the Executive). There can be no conflict of interest in the legal professional sense in acting for a single client in more than one manifestation.
Occasionally, while acting for the Crown, the Treasury Solicitor is requested to act on behalf of bodies or persons who are not the Crown. These may be non-departmental public departments or, very occasionally, individual Crown servants having a personal legal interest in a matter or claim. In such cases, where there is a possibility of conflict of interest, the Treasury Solicitor's Department operates under procedures that have been designed to be compliant with Lexcel, which is the Law Society's practice management standard. That standard embraces policy and practice in relation to conflict of interests. In pursuit of accreditation, the Department has prepared guidance for all its staff which explains the requirements of the Code and details procedures for identifying and handling potential conflicts of interest. Both the policy and the procedures are kept under review.
The procedures have been designed to ensure that conflicts of interest are swiftly identified, the clients are informed and appropriate steps are taken to safeguard the interests of the parties concerned. Such steps may, where the interests of all parties cannot be properly safeguarded, involve the Department's declining to act for the non-Crown party.
In any case where the question of conflict of interest has arisen, the case work file will contain a record of the consideration and the outcome.
Treasury Solicitors Department: Legal Costs
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General what steps the Treasury Solicitor's Department takes on (a) certifying and (b) claiming costs for work undertaken to ensure that the quantum of costs claimed is accurate, taking into account the indemnity principle. [267505]
The Solicitor-General: The steps taken on (a) certifying and (b) claiming costs for work undertaken include the drawing up of a Bill of Costs which is checked by a law costs draftsman from the in-house costs team at the Treasury Solicitor's Department with reference to the following:
(i) Information from the Treasury Solicitor's Department Finance Department is obtained which identifies all the elements of work which have been billed to the client Department, including all disbursements.
(ii) Only elements of work which have been charged to the client Department are included in the subject matter of the costs recovery claim and any elements of work charged to a client Department which would not properly be recoverable from the other side are excluded.
(iii) The hourly rates which are applied accord with the Judgment of the Court of Appeal in "Re Eastwood Deed [1975] Ch. 112."
(iv) The Bill of Costs is also usually sent to the Case Officer who had conduct of the litigation for a similar checking/verification process and to the client Department for approval.
(v) On the return of the Bill from the client Department, the law costs draftsman carries out final checks and completes and signs a certificate as to its accuracy, on behalf of the Treasury Solicitor.
In the context of a Summary Assessment of costs a Schedule of Costs is prepared and checked by the litigation case officer with assistance and input, where necessary, from the in-house costs team.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General what guidance and training materials have been produced by the Treasury Solicitor's Department with regard to costs certifications and claims to ensure compliance with the indemnity principle; and when and how such guidance has been amended in the last five years. [267506]
The Solicitor-General: A guidance note was produced in March 2006, this guidance updated, as necessary, earlier guidance. Furthermore, the in-house costs team are continually providing training, support and advice in respect of all aspects of costs law and procedure, including the indemnity principle as qualified by the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Re Eastwood Deed [1975] Ch. 112. During the last 18 months training in costs law and procedure has been delivered to all the litigation teams within the Department.
Treasury Solicitors Department: Manpower
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General how many lawyers working within the Treasury Solicitor's Department are of senior civil service rank; and how many of them are qualified to practise in England and Wales as (a) solicitors and (b) barristers. [267500]
The Solicitor-General: There are 61 qualified lawyers in the senior civil service in the Treasury Solicitor's Department. Of these, 39 are qualified solicitors and 22 are qualified barristers.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General how many lawyers below senior civil Service rank employed by the Government Legal Service are (a) qualified solicitors in England and Wales, (b) qualified barristers in England and Wales and (c) not qualified solicitors or barristers in England and Wales. [267501]
The Solicitor-General: The Government Legal Service database holds records of 1,686 qualified lawyers below the senior civil service employed by Departments who are members of the Government Legal Service. Of these, 1,297 are qualified solicitors and 389 are qualified barristers. The database has no records of unqualified staff.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General what policies and procedures exist to ensure that the Treasury Solicitor staff do not (a) undertake work for which a solicitor's practising certificate is required and (b) act for those for whom Government lawyers did not act prior to 1974; and what guidance is provided to the Treasury Solicitor's staff about such restrictions on activities. [267510]
The Solicitor-General: The information is as follows:
(a) The Treasury Solicitor is bound to act within the law and his Department is organised, and work is undertaken, accordingly.
(b) It is presumed that the reference to 1974 is a reference to the passing of the Solicitors Act of that year, which governs the activities of solicitors. The provisions of that Act are not understood as limiting the activities of the Treasury Solicitor or his Department to acting only for clients existing prior to that date.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General what policies and procedures exist within the (a) Treasury Solicitor's Department and (b) the Government Legal Service to ensure that its lawyers do not act in conflict of interest situations with particular reference to acting for a party to a dispute and the adjudicator to the dispute. [267545]
The Solicitor-General: The Treasury Solicitor's Department takes its understanding of the concept of "conflict of interest" from the Law Society's Solicitors' Code of Conduct.
As a part of its commitment to compliance with the code, the Department has sought and achieved accreditation with Lexcel which is the Law Society's practice management standard. That standard embraces policy and practice in relation to conflict of interests. In pursuit of accreditation, the Department has prepared guidance for all its staff which explains the requirements of the code and details procedures for identifying and handling potential conflicts of interest.
Both the policy and the procedures are kept under review. In relation to the Government Legal Service, individual Departments are responsible for the conduct of lawyers employed by them.
Treasury Solicitors Department: Pay
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Solicitor-General who the 10 highest paid Treasury counsel were in each of the last three years; and how much each counsel received in each of those years. [267492]
The Solicitor-General: The 10 barristers (being either First Treasury Counsel or members of the Attorney-General's panel of civil counsel) receiving the highest fee payments from the Treasury Solicitor's Department in respect of instructions from that Department in the last three financial years were as follows:
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