Information released

Disclosure log

See the table below for details of selected requests and our responses under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Contract tenders

The LSC received a significant number of FOI requests relating to the 2010 contract tender exercise. For the latest information please see either the Civil contracts for 2010 or the Crime contracts for 2010 pages of our website.

10 Feb 2012 16 Jan 2012	The LSC has disclosed updated legal aid costs for the Lynette White police corrupton case, and information on legal aid funding for Iorworth Hoare and Ian Huntley. The LSC received a request for information relating to the volume of family high cost cases per provider over the last three financial years. A copy of the information released is shown in the documents panel.
21 Oct & 5 Dec 2011	The LSC has released information relating to the legal aid costs in three high-profile cases; those of the MPs convicted of parliamentary expenses fraud, those of Levi Bellfield for his trial in 2011, and the defendants in the Lynette White trial of this year. The two response letters can be found in the documents panel.
24 Nov 2011	The LSC responded to a request relating to legal aid payments made to the Community Law Partmership and Davies Gore Lomax LLP in relation to travellers and traveller families.
9 Nov 2011	The LSC has today responded to a request for infomation relating to crime payments made to legal aid providers in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire during the last three financial years. A copy of the information disclosed is shown in the douments panel.
27 October 2011	The LSC has responded to a request for information relating to public law claims made by current contract holders. A copy of the information disclosed is shown in the documents panel to the right. Please note the accompanying letter that outlines associated caveats.
25 October 2011	The LSC has received a request for information relating to the volume of prison law cases claimed between August 2010 and July 2011 and breakdown of firms these claims were made by. A copy of the data disclosed is shown in the document panel.
12 Jul 2011	The LSC has released some information relating to legal aid claims made by prisoners whilst serving whole life sentences, in response to an FOI request. The data released and accompanying explanation letter are available in the document panel on this page.
5 Jul 11	The LSC has responded to a request for details of peer reviews carried out for all firms within the last five years. The LSC's response is available to read in the document panel.
6 Jul 11	The LSC has released information relating to two provider conferences the LSC attended in May, in response to a recent FOI request. The response in full can be viewed in the document panel to the right hand side of this page.
1 Jul 11	The LSC's work is overseen by a Board of Commissioners. Their response to the Government's consultation on the reform of legal aid is available in the document panel to the right hand side of this screen. The consultation paper and Government response can be found on the MoJ website.
2 Jun 11	The LSC has responded to a request for information on staff redundancy numbers and payments. You can view our response in the document panel to the right hand side of this screen.
4 Feb 11	The LSC has received requests for information on the details of providers delivering Family and Family work with Housing under the Unified Contract (Civil) which has been extended until 30 November 2011.A document outlining provider names, locations (by region and procurement area) and authorised matter start allocations in Family and Housing can be downloaded from the Documents panel on the right of this page.
9 Nov 10	The LSC has received a request for information on the number of separate prison law cases that were paid by the Legal Services Commission and a breakdown of the firms that they were paid to, from 1 November 2009 to 31 October 2010. This information has been provided for July 2009 - June 2010, which is the latest rolling 12 month period for which complete data was available. You can view the data given in response to this FOI request in the Documents panel on the right-hand side.
26 Oct 10	The LSC has received multiple requests for information relating to the outcome of the crime tenders. A list of crime contract holders, as at 15 October 2010, is now available in the Documents panel. Please note that a small number of appeals remain ongoing and, as a result, this should be treated as an interim list only. It is possible that, following the conclusion of those appeals, the list will be updated.
12 Oct 10	The LSC has recently received a request for the following information: I am currently conducting research into legal aid expenditure. I would be very grateful if you could give me a breakdown of total legal aid spend for every financial year since its inception in 1949 (I would like total expenditure overall as well as expenditure for each individual year). I understand you may not have figures for 2009/10 just yet, so if these have not been published I would be more than happy with 2008/09. The LSC's reply to this request is posted in the Documents panel on the right-hand side. The response should be read in conjuction with the following statement: The Ministry of Justice has been conducting a fundamental look at the legal aid system. The Legal Services Commission has been liaising closely with MoJ colleagues throughout the development of the proposals. Once decisions have been made by Ministers we will be in a position to fully consider the impact of proposals on the LSC. Providers’ views will be taken into account during the consultation phase.
18 Aug 10	The LSC has recently received a request for the following information: I would like to know how much money has been claimed in legal aid so far by all individuals involved in the death of Peter Connelly, otherwise known as Baby P. I would like the total to include everything successfully claimed for in both civil and criminal proceedings. If possible I would like that figure broken down. Part one - a total for those involved in the criminal trial and their appeals. Please also include any legal aid claimed by the three for anything else - including the possible forthcoming inquest and any private legal action. Part two - a total for all those employed or formerly employed by Haringey council, the NHS and police who have successfully claimed legal aid in relation to any action connected with Baby P. The LSC's reply to this request is posted in the Documents panel on the right-hand side. The response should be read in conjuction with the following statement: Anyone accused of a criminal offence is entitled to legal representation so that a lawful trial is able to take place. The decision on whether legal aid is required to fulfil this is made by the court, which the Legal Service Commission is then obliged to administer.
11 Aug 10	The LSC has recently received a request for the following information: How much legal aid has been paid out to firms representing defendants in each of the trials relating to Operation Overt which may have been funded under the VHCC arrangements? The LSC's reply to this request is posted in the Documents panel on the right-hand side. The response should be read in conjuction with the following statement: Anyone accused of a criminal offence is entitled to legal representation so that a lawful trial is able to take place. The decision on whether legal is required to fulfil this is made by the court, which the Legal Services Commission is then obliged to administer. In complicated and lengthy cases like these, a dedicated LSC team manages and monitors progress to keep costs as low as possible. The high cost of these trials is due to the huge amount of evidence, rightly, produced by a counter-terrorism operation of this size, and the work required to represent numberous suspects in 7 trials across 4 years.

Last updated: 10 February 2012