Legal Aid: Expenditure
Justice
John Spellar (Warley, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent on average per head on legal aid in the last year for which figures are available; and what comparative assessment he has made of equivalent figures for other EU countries.
Jack Straw (Lord Chancellor, Ministry of Justice; Blackburn, Labour)
In 2006-07 average legal aid expenditure per head of population in England and Wales was £37. Ministry of Justice has not made a comparative assessment with other EU countries. However, all known studies suggest that England and Wales spend more per capita than any other jurisdiction.
The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice published a report on European Judicial Systems in 2006, which included 2004 per head expenditure data. The following table shows a selection of countries.
| Country | £ per head |
| England and Wales | 38 |
| Northern Ireland | 32 |
| Scotland | 30 |
| Netherlands | 16 |
| Republic of Ireland | 8 |
| Germany | 4 |
| France | 3 |
The full report is available online at:
http://www.coe.int/t/dg1/legalcooperation/cepej/evaluation/2006/Report2006resume_en.pdf