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Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [Lords]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. Amendment No. 4, which was also tabled by the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes), deals with legal aid. Many points have been raised about legal aid, and in particular about bearing down on the costs involved. The proposals that we have introduced following the Carter review are intended to do that. The hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) has talked about the cost of expert witnesses, and we are already bearing down on that. We are looking at how expert witnesses are remunerated, and at how they should be remunerated in the future, under legal aid. He mentioned a recent parliamentary question in which the earnings of what he called ““top QCs”” from legal aid were set out. It is true that those earnings are considerable, but it is only fair to point out that the figures are not necessarily the earnings of those individuals for the year in question alone. They can run back to earlier years, because some cases are very long. At the same time, figures have also been published, although not in answer to that particular question, showing the legal aid fees of what I am sure the hon. Gentleman would call ““top solicitors””—they are certainly the top-earning solicitors—and they, too, were very sizeable indeed. I do not believe that there is a clash between the two sides of the profession in this regard. The hon. Member for North-West Norfolk referred to the junior Bar, about which I also have concerns. The real problem for junior members of the Bar is not the level of legal aid payment, however; it is more to do with their not being fully occupied.