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Briefing on Justice Select Committee on legal aid proposals
I’ve drafted a relatively short briefing document, setting out the Justice Select Committee’s report published today, looking at the Government’s proposals for legal aid reforms.
If anyone notices any mistake, omissions, etc then please give me a shout and I will amend, hope it’s useful.
Lasa briefing on Justice Select Committee legal aid inquiry report
Rightsnet news story - MPs concerned that vulnerable groups may be disproportionately hit by changes to scope of legal aid
[ Edited: 31 Mar 2011 at 02:07 am by Paul Treloar ]Very good article today on Guardian website in relation to this report and the rather timid approach of the Committee.
When Sir Alan Beith’s select committee looked at legal aid reforms three years ago, it declared them a “breathtaking risk”.
Back then, MPs were considering the impact of New Labour’s vision of “a market-driven economy in legal aid” by introducing fixed fees and imposing competitive tendering for criminal firms. What did the committee make of the coalition’s plans to remove £350m from a £2.1bn scheme by taking whole chunks of advice out of the civil scheme and tightening eligibility?
Sadly, MPs’ talent for a killer phrase appears to have deserted them. “There is a cross-party consensus on the need to reduce the cost of the legal aid budget, which is one of the most expensive in the world,” begins Beith’s press release, trotting out the over-familiar mantra deployed by legal ministers of this and its predecessor government.
Third Sector have also picked up on the report. (You may need to register with their website to view the article.)
Justice Select Committee report says government departments have not properly assessed the impact of the £350m reduction in funding
The government has not sufficiently considered the impact of proposed legal aid cuts on the not-for-profit sector, MPs have claimed.
Legal aid cuts ‘could spell the end for most of the not-for-profit advice sector’