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Mon 19-Jul-04 03:47 PM by shawn
The Constitutional Affairs Committee of The House of Commons have just released a report on “Civil Legal Aid: adequacy of provision”.
In conclusion, the report notes that:
- “The system of civil legal aid faces some serious problems. The evidence established clearly that the laudable aim of ensuring that costs were properly audited has resulted in a wasteful and self-defeating system of cost compliance auditing which bears little relation to quality or even shows much accuracy in the assessment of costs”
as well as making the interesting statement that:
- “Civil Legal Aid has become the Cinderella of the Government’s services to address social exclusion and poverty.”
Amongst the conclusions and recommendations for the future of civil legal aid are the following:
- “The Government should ring fence the civil and criminal legal aid budgets so that the funding for civil work is protected (as immigration work is) and considered quite separately from criminal defence funding”;
- “we are satisfied that there is still ample evidence of unmet demand. When there is no evidence of reduced demand the number of people helped is a key indication of how successful the system is. It is unacceptable that the system is helping fewer people”;
- “We are in no doubt that the term “advice deserts” reflects the concerns which exist in some geographical areas and in some fields of law where advice is not readily accessible”;
- “Peer review has been accepted by all parties as providing an appropriate means of audit for practitioners. If properly implemented it should reduce bureaucracy and provide a much clearer picture of the value of the service provided”;
- “We were impressed with the strong commitment of many of the solicitors and advice sector workers whom we met. The public service which they carry out deserves wider recognition, as they are often the only barrier between a citizen and complete denial of legal rights. A proper system of access to justice for all the community depends entirely on such professionals”;
- “It is not acceptable that in employment cases employees can be forced to represent themselves in circumstances where private employers are able to employ lawyers to represent them. If proceedings are to be fair, there needs to be equality of arms. Legal aid should not automatically be excluded from such tribunal hearings”;
- “There is considerable scope for employing knowledgeable advisers who are not solicitors to give advice in specific areas. Often such advisers are at least as good as or better than solicitors in providing for the needs of clients in their area of specialism, for example, welfare benefits or debt”;
- “Non-independent sources of advice can only be a complement to and never a replacement for services available from solicitors and independent advice agencies”;
- “New and alternative technologies can complement services provided under the legal aid system, especially when dealing with hard to reach groups. They provide an important way forward for combining an affordable system with quality advice. If their use is to be successful they must integrate with the rest of the system to enable ease of access for clients and transfer of files between advisers. They must also receive adequate funding”;
A pdf of the report can be obtained here http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmconst/391/391.pdf
More on the Constitutional Affairs Committee here http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/conaffcom.cfm
Finally, to highlight the ongoing consultation of the Community Legal Service, following the independent review by Matrix, closing date 17.09.04, more details in the Rightsnet story here http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/cgi-bin/forwardsql/search.cgi?template2=user_details2.htm&output_number=1&news.ID=630171013279
or on the DCA’s website at http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/commlegalservice/commlegalservice.htm
Anyone working under a LSC contract is encouraged to respond – if you don’t want to respond directly but do have points to make, please get in touch with me and I will endeavour to include relevant information within our response.
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