Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986

The Fund

4 Scottish Legal Aid Fund

(1) The Board shall establish and maintain a fund to be known as the Scottish Legal Aid Fund (in this Act referred to as " the Fund ").

(2) There shall be paid out of the Fund—

(a) such sums as are, by virtue of this Act or any regulations made thereunder, due to any solicitor or counsel in respect of fees and outlays properly incurred by him, in connection with the provision, in accordance with this Act, of legal aid or advice and assistance ;

(b) expenses awarded to any person under section 19 of this Act; and

(c) such other payments for the purposes of this Act as the Secretary of State may, with the concurrence of the Treasury, determine.

(3) There shall be paid into the Fund—

(a) any contribution payable to the Fund by any person in pursuance of section 17 of this Act;

(b) any sum recovered under an award of a court or an agreement as to expenses in any proceedings in favour of any party who is in receipt of civil legal aid ;

(c) any sum which is to be paid in accordance with section 17 of this Act out of property recovered or preserved for any party to any proceedings who is in receipt of civil legal aid;

(d) the sums to be paid by the Secretary of State in pursuance of section 40(1) (a) of this Act; and

(e) such other receipts of the Board as the Secretary of State may, with the concurrence of the Treasury, determine.

5 Accounts and audit

(1) The Board shall keep separate accounts with respect to—

(a) the Fund ; and

(b) the receipts and expenditure of the Board which do not relate to the Fund,

and shall prepare in respect of each financial year a statement of accounts.

(2) The accounts shall be kept and the statement of accounts shall be prepared in such form as the Secretary of State may, with the approval of the Treasury, direct.

(3) The accounts shall be audited by persons to be appointed in respect of each financial year by the Secretary of State in accordance with a scheme of audit approved by him, and the auditors shall be furnished by the Board with copies of the statement and shall prepare a report to the Secretary of State on the accounts and the statement.

(4) No person shall be qualified to be appointed auditor under subsection (3) above unless he is a member of one of the following bodies;—

(a) the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland ;

(b) the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales;

(c) the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants;

(d) the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

(5) Upon completion of the audit of the accounts, the auditors shall send to the Secretary of State a copy of the statement of accounts and of their report, and the Secretary of State shall send a copy of the statement and of the report to the Comptroller and Auditor General.

(6) The Secretary of State and the Comptroller and Auditor General may inspect the accounts and any records relating thereto.

(7) The Secretary of State shall lay before each House of Parliament a copy of every—

(a) annual report of the Board under section 3(3) of this Act;

(b) statement of accounts under subsection (1) above; and

(c) report of the auditors under subsection (3) above.

(8) In this section " financial year " means the period beginning with the commencement of this section and ending with 31st March next following and each subsequent period of 12 months ending with 31st March in each year.