Company owned by Minister for Courts and Victims makes £200k from Legal Aid

Maidstone MP, Helen Grant - Minister for Courts and Victims - is headlining in the Torygraph again for her company earning £200k from legal aid.

This is from the annual report for the Ministry of Justice 2013-13: "Helen Grant MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, and her husband are equity partners and designated members of Grants Solicitors LLP, providers of professional services to the LSC. Total payments to Grant Solicitors LLP in 2012–13 were £384,018 of which £219,751 were made on or after 4 September 2012."

A partner, according to the Partnership Act 1890, first point: "1 Definition of partnership.(1) Partnership is the relation which subsists between persons carrying on a business in common with a view of profit."

According to the register of members interests (8th April 2013): "Designated Member of Grants Solicitors LLP, Airport House, Purley Way, Croydon, Surrey CRO 4RE. I occasionally practised as a solicitor and received drawings until September 2012; since that date I have ceased to practise as a solicitor and I no longer receive any share of the profits. (Updated 18 January 2013)"

So which is true? Is Mrs Grant an equity partner in Grants Solicitors would mean that she receives profits from the company or not?

I will be writing to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards  to ask what the actual position is and why we appear to have two apparently contradictory statements.