Legal Aid Scheme

Mr. Bellingham
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have had a Legal Services Commission legal aid charge postponed and attached to their property after a family proceeding in the last three years.

Bridget Prentice
After preserving or recovering property in a family case with the help of legal aid, clients can ask to defer repayment of their legal aid costs, and instead register a charge on their property. There are 8,239 cases where a charge was attached to property in the last three years and remains open (unpaid).

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|       |Cases|
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|2006-07|2,050|
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|2007-08|2,272|
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|2008-09|3,917|
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|Total  |8,239|
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Mr. Bellingham
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if the Government will reduce the interest rate applied to legal aid charges to the Legal Services Commission to reflect changes in the Bank of England base rate.

Bridget Prentice
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 2 February 2010, Official Report, column 263W.