More cases were handled via the Legal Aid scheme last year and improvements in its administration are beginning to see cost savings.

Yesterday saw the tabling in the House of Assembly of the 1999 Legal Aid Committee's annual report.

Committee chairperson Assistant Justice Charles-Etta Simmons reported that 304 cases were granted last year and 132 were declined.

In 1998, 183 cases were approved and 295 were declined, giving a yearly increase of 31 percent to an approval rate of 69 percent.

In criminal cases in 1999, 139 were approved and 44 declined, compared to the previous year's figures of 84 approved to 113 declined.

For domestic and matrimonial cases, 139 were also approved and 70 declined while in 1998, just 89 cases were approved against 141 rejected.

In civil matters, there were 26 instances of lawyers being paid from the public purse with 18 rejections, an improvement compared to 1998 where the figures were 9 to 42.

In 1999, there were 436 applications for aid, a drop from the previous year of 478 but nowhere near the 1994 record of 923.

Ms Justice Simmons credited the increase in the approval figures to an easing of controls aimed at taking the Scheme into the black.

"The approval rate has increased from 38 percent to 69 percent,'' she wrote, "which reflects an easing of the tight control, that had been necessary to put the Scheme on a sound financial footing and is in accordance with the recommendation of the former chairman, Justice (Richard) Ground.'' Ms Justice Simmons added: "I can now report that the Committee has now been able to bring Legal Aid within the annual budget set by Parliament.'' In 1999 $570,727 was paid out to lawyers -- a 22 percent reduction from $739,393 in 1998.

Ms Justice Simmons said this was a result of "improvement in administrative procedures and the continued fall-off in applications''.

Also, the reductions take some time to show up due to the lag in when all cases have been dealt with in the courts.

"The experience of the last three years indicates that the number of applications has reached its base level and will, in all likelihood, be subject to an increase in future years,'' the judge added.

She also detailed how the Committee controlled expenditure, including limiting the amount of time allowed in civil and domestic cases.

Money is also saved in the scrutiny of lawyer's bills by the Committee with the Senior Legal Aid Counsel, who will "tax them down where it considers that they exceed what is reasonable and necessary for the case concerned''.

Ms Justice Simmons added: "We strive to assist the greatest number of people in the most effective way within the constraints of our limited budget.'' The Legal Aid Scheme also generates money from statutory contributions from successful applicants, recovery of costs in civil cases and recovery of the committee's costs in successful civil cases.

Charles-Etta Simmons