asked the Attorney-General what he estimates the cost would be of extending legal aid provisions to persons appearing before the Medical Appeal Tribunal and the National Insurance Commissioner.

Any estimate of the cost of making legal aid available in the tribunals to which the right hon. Member refers must depend upon a number of factors, including the method of determining eligibility, the nature of the legal aid to be provided and the circumstances in which it is to be made available.The cost of providing legal aid for all the cases dealt with by these tribunals would be over £1 million a year.