Asked by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist To ask Her
Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure
sufficient availability of legal aid. The Advocate-General for
Scotland (Lord Keen of Elie) (Con) My Lords, we recognise
that the availability of legal aid is an important part of
maintaining access to justice. The Government...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking
to ensure sufficient availability of legal aid.
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The Advocate-General for Scotland (Lord Keen of Elie)
(Con)
My Lords, we recognise that the availability of legal aid
is an important part of maintaining access to justice. The
Government remain committed to targeting legal aid to those
who need it, while balancing that with the cost to the
taxpayer. As the Lord Chancellor has confirmed, we will
conduct an evidence-based review of LASPO and will publish
our findings later this year.
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(Con)
I thank the Minister for his reply, and I am conscious that
this is not the first time this Question has been asked,
but it is generally acknowledged, in particular by legally
trained Chancellors, that the quality of advocacy provided
by properly trained barristers is of a significantly higher
quality than that which is provided by others in court.
Does the Minister agree that not only is the criminal Bar
an essential part of the criminal justice system but it
also requires adequate fees to function properly?
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My Lords, we agree that the criminal Bar is one of the
vital pillars underpinning the rule of law and that its
contribution should be fairly rewarded.
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(Lab)
My Lords, there are two forms of advice desert in relation
to the current legal aid system. One is geographic, where
legal advice is simply unavailable because there are no
longer legal aid practitioners to provide it, and the other
is in relation to particularly sensitive and important
areas, such as housing or family law, where the number of
cases receiving legal help since LASPO has dropped from
200,000 to 40,000 in the last financial year. Will the
long-awaited LASPO review address these problems? Do the
Government have an open mind in relation to the possible
restoration of legal aid and advice currently denied to
people of limited means, with the added benefit of reducing
the pressure on the courts system from the growing number
of unrepresented parties to proceedings?
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My Lords, with particular reference to housing, at present
133 of the 134 housing and debt procurement areas for legal
aid have provision, and in addition there is provision for
telephone advice in the context of housing issues that are
covered by LASPO. Our review will embrace all the issues
that are being raised by interested groups and will take
account of the observations made by the noble Lord,
, and the noble Lord,
, in their respective
reports.
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(CB)
My Lords, when the Government inquiry takes place, will it
please look at the situation of the criminal Bar, which is
currently in very real trouble? The noble Baroness made an
important point about the very good advocacy of the
criminal Bar. It is under real threat and is an issue which
the Government have to look at.
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We are conscious of the contribution that the criminal Bar
makes. The noble and learned Baroness is alluding to
developments with regard to recent changes to the
advocates’ graduated fee scheme. That scheme was developed
in conjunction with the profession, in particular the Bar
Council. The changes are intended to create a simpler and
more modern pay system which better reflects the reality of
the work being done. As regards the question of an inquiry,
a review by the Lord Chancellor is ongoing and we intend to
report on it in the course of this year.
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(LD)
My Lords, the impact assessment for LASPO anticipated
annual savings of £450 million. In fact, annual savings
have been running at about £950 million. Last month’s terms
of reference for the LASPO review commit the Government to
ensuring that legal aid is,
“available to those who need it”.
Given that this aim is clearly not currently being
achieved, will the Government make these extra savings of
£500 million available to fund any proposals made on the
review for extra legal aid spending? Has that been made
clear to officials conducting the review within the
department?
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My Lords, the coalition Government introduced LAPSO in order
to ensure that legal aid was directed at those who most
require it. The figure of £950 million arises only in the
context of a comparison between 2010 and 2016. In that
period, legal aid expenditure fell by about £950 million, or
38% in real terms.
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(Con)
My Lords, is it intended that the review will cover
third-party litigation funding? Third-party litigation
funding is a useful access to justice, but too often the
division of any awards of damages between those who provide
the funding and those in whose name the cases are being
brought are obscure. Would it not be a good idea if the
courts had the power to require the disclosure of such terms
to ensure fairness between all the parties?
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My Lords, the matter of third-party litigation funding is of
course a matter of contract between two parties, and the
Government would be slow to interfere in that contractual
process.
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(Lab)
My Lords, further to the excellent question from my noble
friend , will the Government now
at last admit that they have denied access to justice to
hundreds of thousands of people, with cuts to legal aid
taking people with social security, homelessness, mental
health and other extremely important issues out of scope;
widespread confusion as to who remains eligible; difficulty
in proving financial eligibility; and a very damaging fall in
the number of legal aid providers? How does the Minister
explain the collapse in the number of private practice and
not-for-profit organisations undertaking legal aid work? Will
the Government now act to restore access to justice as a
basic right of citizenship?
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My Lords, we recognise the need for access to justice; it is
a fundamental common-law right. We seek to ensure that there
is a legal aid scheme that is affordable but allows for
access to justice. That scheme is currently the subject of
review by the Ministry of Justice.
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(Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister agree with that famous saying,
“British justice is the best in the world if you can afford
it”? Do we not need a different legal system that makes it
possible for ordinary people to pursue cases in the courts?
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My Lords, I am not familiar with that particular comment.
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