Written question asked by Llew Smith (Labour) on Wednesday, 2 March 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 8 March 2005. It was answered by David Lammy (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 March 2005 on behalf of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Dept for Constitutional Affairs

Question: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs, what recent assessment the Legal Services Commission has made of the application by British atomic test veterans for legal aid.

Answer: Llew Smith: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what recent assessment the Legal Services Commission has made of the application by British atomic test veterans for legal aid. [220643] Mr. Lammy: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) granted limited funding in June 2002 to two firms of solicitors to undertake preliminary investigations. The LSC made an assessment of the atomic veterans' Multi Party Action (MPA) in October 2004. This action includes British veterans among other nationalities. The LSC is currently awaiting further information from the solicitors to enable a decision to be made about whether further funding should be provided. Once the information is available the LSC will first consider the merits and then whether the action is affordable from the cash limited budget, having compared it with other major group actions that are being proposed. This is the standard procedure that the LSC currently applies to any major MPA.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 431 c1744W;431 c1740W; 220643
Session: 2004-05
Subjects: Compensation Legal aid scheme Nuclear weapons Radiation exposure Testing Veterans
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk