Legal aid body 'handles money badly'

The Commons Public Accounts Committee said the Legal Services Commission did not have the ability to gauge if it was getting value for money.

It said lack of clarity in the respective roles of the Ministry of Justice and the commission led to uncertainty and duplication.

The committee's report also called for a salary cap for lawyers, highlighting the fact that some top barristers were earning more than 1m a year in legal aid fees.

It also pointed to the potentially detrimental impact of the increasing numbers of solicitors working in the Crown Courts.

This development was "threatening the long term future of the junior criminal bar".

The committee said: "The commission has successfully arrested the increase in legal aid spending in the last five years, but we found it is an organisation with poor financial management and internal controls and deficient management information."

Tory committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "The Legal Services Commission has been doing a far from competent job of buying legal aid from lawyers."

The commission is responsible for implementing "significant reforms" to legal aid, which were recommended by Lord Carter of Coles in 2006.