Fraud
(asked on 27th November 2017) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many reports of suspected fraud have been made to the Legal Aid Agency in each year since 2013.
Year | Number of reports to Legal Aid Agency of suspected fraud | Number of successful prosecutions resulting from reports made to Legal Aid Agency |
April 2013 to March 2014 | 879 | 4 |
April 2014 to March 2015 | 766 | 7 |
April 2015 to March 2016 | 540 | 5 |
April 2016 to March 2017 | 373 | 5 |
April 2017 to November 2017 | 214 | 6 |
There has been one prosecution for fraud resulting from complaints to the Legal Aid Agency undertaken by an individual or body other than the Crown Prosecution Service since 2013. The prosecution commenced in July 2016 but in April 2017 the Director of Public Prosecutions exercised her powers under section 6(2) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 to take over the conduct of the criminal proceedings. The trial is set for May 2018.