Proceeding contribution from Lord Bach (Labour) in the House of Lords on Wednesday, 10 June 2009. It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL) and Debate on bill on Coroners and Justice Bill.

Coroners and Justice Bill

I shall try to give some figures. The figures I have for costs for other government departments are a few years old. In 2004-05, Her Majesty’s Prison Service, as it then was, spent £901,000 on legal costs, including those of Treasury Solicitors, counsels’ fees and other related costs, and in the same year the Ministry of Defence spent £76,265 on inquests, although I concede readily that that figure has increased considerably in recent years given the significant improvements to the efficiency with which delays have been tackled. My figure of £240 million per year is for all inquests. If there was automatic legal representation for all inquests, the annual legal aid bill for inquests would be that sum.

Secondary information

Type: Proceeding contribution
Reference: 711 c718-9
Session: 2008-09
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Children Disclosure of information Codes of practice Devolved matters Administration of justice Armed forces Death Accidents Certification Coroners Custodial treatment Families Inquiries Juries Electronic surveillance Evidence Intelligence services Legal aid scheme Ethnic groups Mental illness National security Police Powers Public interest Prisons Newspaper press Minority groups Relatives Post-mortems Lord Advocate Psychiatric hospitals Scotland Registration Young people Road traffic Suicide Secure psychiatric units
Legislation: Coroners and Justice Bill 2008-09
Link: View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk

Coroners and Justice Bill

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