Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much legal aid has been paid to (a) Public Interest Lawyers and (b) Leigh Day for cases related to (i) the Iraq Historic Allegations Team and (ii) Operation Northmoor.
Answered by Oliver Heald
No legal aid has been paid to represent parties before either IHAT or Operation Northmoor.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many detailed inquests have taken place in relation to deaths at Beachy Head in each of the last five years; and what proportion of verdicts for those inquests returned suicide as the cause of death.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been recorded to have died at Beachy Head in each of the last five years; and what the (a) nationality, (b) sex and (c) age was of those people.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Prison Service paid in compensation in the last 12 months; and what estimate he has made of the amount the service will pay in compensation in the next 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Selous
The Prison Service robustly defends all cases as far as practicable and over the last three years, has managed to successfully defend two thirds of prisoners’ claims.
As announced recently, we have ordered an independent audit into concluded personal injury claims against the Prison Service. This will identify ways of cutting payouts and legal costs, so taxpayer money can be focused on protecting the public and reforming offenders.
The National Offender Management Service publishes in its Annual Report and Accounts the total special payments made which includes all compensation payments paid out to prisoners, staff and third parties and all other associated costs, including any legal costs and compensation payments made under the Civil Service Injury Benefits Scheme.
For financial year 2014-15, the total special payments made for all groups and costs mentioned above was £28.9m, as published in the Annual Report and Accounts. This can be found in Note 25 Losses and Special Payments on page 128 at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/noms-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-2015
Payments of compensation by NOMS fluctuates throughout the year and is dependent on facts of each individual case, the legal advice received and decisions of the court. As a result, future estimations cannot be produced.
The total amount of special payments paid for the 9 months up to 31 December 2015 for the financial year 2015-16 was £19.5m. This is the latest information available and will be subject to audit.
As part of further measures to reduce the amount of compensation payments we pay out, the Ministry of Justice has commissioned a specialist law firm to carry out a review of recent claims so as to advise what steps can be taken to make sure that payments are justified and proportionate and that future costs are kept to a minimum in respect of pay outs and legal costs.