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Court Service, Land Registry and Public Trust Office: Performance Targets
Baroness Pike asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What are the key performance targets for the Court Service, Her Majesty's Land Registry and the Public Trust Office executive agencies for 1997-98.
The Lord Chancellor (Lord Mackay of Clashfern): The following tables set out the key performance targets that I have set for the Court Service, Her Majesty's Land Registry and the Public Trust Office for 1997-98.
| Indicator | Target |
| Quality of Service: | |
| 1. Average percentage of Charter standards achieved | 99 per cent. |
| Civil Courts: | |
| 2. Percentage of Administrative process dealt with within target time | 92 per cent. |
| Crown Court: | |
| 3. Percentage of defendants whose trial commences within target time (16 weeks) or less | 75 per cent. |
| Unit costs (Civil): | |
| 4. Unit cost of an item of originating process in the civil courts | £95 |
| Cost recovery: | |
| 6. Percentage of the cost of the civil courts recovered through fees | 91 per cent. |
| Unit costs (Crown): | |
| 5. Unit cost of a case in the Crown Court | £1,926 |
| Indicator | Target |
| Financial | |
| Return on average capital employed(1) | 2% |
| External Financing Limit | £0 |
| Efficiency | |
| Cost per unit in real terms | £26.67 |
| Cost per unit in cash terms(2) | £29.94 |
| Charter Standards | |
| Speed | |
| Percentage of pre-completion applications handled within two working days and | 98% |
| Time taken to process all pre-completion applications | 3 working days. |
| Time taken to process 80% of all registrations | 25 working days. |
| Accuracy | |
| Percentage of registrations handled free from any error | 98.50% |
| Percentage of customers responding to the Annual Survey who perceive the accuracy of registrations to be excellent or good | Better than 90% (being the result of the 1996 survey) |
| Development of Land Registration | |
| Bringing into force provisions of the land Registration Act 1997 introducing new "triggers" for compulsory first registration | 1 January 1998 |
| Number of computerised titles in the Land Register (millions) | 15.10 |
| Number of computerised title plans (millions) | 1.00 |
| Number of scanned filed documents (millions) | 0.60 |
| Number of account holder using the Direct Access service at the end of the year | 550 |
| National Land Information Service | |
| Feasibility study of the National Land Information Service | Complete initial phases of feasibility study and report to Government by 31 December 1997 |
Note:
Fuller details of the agency's targets are given in its business plan,which is available from Her Majesty's Land Registry.
(1) ROCE below 6% reflects agreement with HM Treasury to apply surplus income generated in 1993-95 (when ROCE exceeded 25%in each year) to fee reductions in 1996-99.
(2) The inflation factor for the cost per unit in cash terms is derivedfrom the GDP indices announced by HM Treasury in December1996.
Note:
Fuller details of the agency's targets are given in its business plan, which is available from the Public Trust Office.
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor: The information requested can be found in the Guide to legal aid and advice in the European Economic Area, published by the European Commission, a copy of which has been placed in the House of Lords Library.
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor: The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor: The award of civil legal aid to foreign nationals is perfectly proper under the terms of the existing legal aid scheme. However, the recent Legal Aid White Paper Striking the Balance, proposes a new deservingness test, and applicants will have to show that their cases deserve a share of the resources available. I will consult widely on what factors should be taken into account in making this decision.
Lord Stewartby asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor: The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor: The reforms set out in the White Paper will take four to five years to implement in full. But once they are completed the Government will be able to decide in advance how much to spend on legal aid. Until then, a substantial (but decreasing) proportion of the budget will remain demand-led. Meanwhile, however, the Government are introducing a number of measures to restrain growth in the short term.
The cost of legal aid increased by just under 15 per cent. in the last three years. Forecast expenditure over the next three years is £1,561/1,602/1,518 million. This represents an increase of 3.2 per cent. in 1997-98 and 2.5 per cent. in 1998-99. However, legal aid expenditure is set to fall back in 1999-2000 by 5 per cent., to a figure just 0.4 per cent. higher than this year's. This reflects the Government's determination to bring legal aid spending under control, and the impact of sustained tough action and the implementation of the wider reform agenda.
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor: The information sought is not collected by Her Majesty's Government. However, the table below sets out the required information for solicitors for the five-year period 1990-1995. These are the latest figures available, and are taken from the Annual Statistical Reports published by the Law
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor: The general issue of legal aid for foreign nationals was addressed in the December 1994 consultation paper, Legal Aid for the Apparently Wealthy. The overwhelming weight of the responses supported the view expressed in the consultation paper that it would not be right to impose nationality restrictions on the availability of either criminal or civil legal aid.
Last year's White Paper raised a narrower question in the context of targeting legal aid on the most deserving civil cases. Paragraph 2.17 of the White Paper said: "We also intend to consult widely about possible ... criteria. This would allow us to take account of particular concerns, for example about people who use the courts here simply to take advantage of our legal aid system."
Indicator Target
1. To carry out accounting transactions within target times. To bring to account at least 98.5% of receipts and payments transactions within turnaround targets by volume weighted performance.
2. To achieve investment targets. To pay annually not less than the rate provided by the average of a model set of comparators for special and basic rate at 75% of special rate; on an annual basis to ensure that 85% of all measured funds perform in line or better than their model based on stock market indices; on a three year rolling basis to ensure that 80% of all measured funds perform in line or better than their model based on stock market indices.
3. To achieve Charter Standards. To achieve 98% of Charter Standards.
4. To achieve unit costs in activity areas. The cost per unit to be £195.65.
5. Percentage of full costs recovered. To ensure that 100% of full costs are recovered.
Whether they will set out the main elements in the legal aid schemes in each member state of the European Union.
What was the expenditure on legal aid in each member state of the European Union in the last year for which figures are available.
Whether they consider that the same priorities for the provision of public money for legal aid should apply to those who are non-British citizens, and not permanently resident or domiciled in the United Kingdom, who are involved in litigation in United Kingdom courts with British third parties, as apply to litigants who are British citizens.
20 Mar 1997 : Column WA88
Whether they will list the individual cases over the last three years in which the cost to public funds of legal aid exceeded £1 million.
By what amount they estimate that the "radical reform programme" of the legal aid system (Written answer to Lord Marlesford, 13 March 1997), which they have now embarked upon, will reduce the costs of legal aid in each of the next five years.
What proportion of the total annual revenue of the legal profession has come from legal aid in each of the last five years.
Year Proportion of solicitors' gross fee income derived from legal aid
1990-91 9.9%
1991-92 11.8%
1992-93 13.3%
1993-94 14.5%
1994-95 14.9%
Why the June 1996 White Paper on legal aid, Striking the Balance (Cm 3305), did not consider the justification for, and the affordability of, providing non-British citizens with legal aid from public funds to pursue civil non-family cases, and what view they now take of this question.
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