Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

Page 1, line 12, at end insert—

“( ) The Lord Chancellor must secure equality between the state and any party in dispute with the state in the provision of services of advice, assistance and representation for appeals on any point of law in the fields of welfare benefits, employment, debt, housing, immigration, education, and asylum.”

Page 5, line 25, after “mediation” insert “, collaborative law”

Page 5, line 36, after “from” insert “or adding to”

Page 6, line 16, after “breach” insert “, or

(c) that it is in the interests of justice generally”

Page 7, line 27, after “mediation” insert “, collaborative law”

Page 8, line 16, after “review” insert “by an independent panel”

The above-named Lords give notice of their intention to oppose the Question that Clause 12 stand part of the Bill.

Page 15, line 8, at end insert—

“( ) For the purposes of subsection (1), “financial resources” shall include all the realizable property of the individual subject to a restraint order under section 41 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (restraint orders) and subsections (4) and (5) of that section are hereby repealed.”

Page 21, line 6, after “particular” insert—

“(a)”

Page 21, line 7, at end insert “, and

(b) by arranging for the services so provided, to be offered by law centres, Citizens Advice Bureaux or other independent or voluntary organisations approved by him”

Page 30, line 4, leave out lines 4 to 6 and insert—

“(b) the maximum limit must be expressed as comprising either or both of the following—

(i) a percentage of the descriptions of damages awarded in the proceedings that are specified in the agreement; or

(ii) a percentage of the amount of fees which would be payable to the person providing legal services including advocacy if they were not acting under a conditional fee agreement,”

Page 30, line 7, leave out “that percentage” and insert “those percentages”

Page 30, line 10, leave out “those”

Page 31, line 29, leave out from “policy” to end of line 23 on page 32

Page 31, line 30, at end insert “, (2A) or (2B)”

Page 31, line 44, at end insert—

“(2A) The Lord Chancellor may by regulations provide that a costs order may include provision requiring the payment of such an amount where—

(a) the order is made in favour of a party to proceedings which include an environmental claim,

(b) the party has taken out a costs insurance policy insuring against the risk of incurring a liability to pay for one or more expert reports in respect of an environmental claim (or against that risk and other risks),

(c) the policy states how much of the premium relates to the liability to pay for an expert report or reports in respect of an environmental claim (“the relevant part of the premium”), and

(d) the amount is to be paid in respect of the relevant part of the premium.

(2B) The Lord Chancellor may by regulations provide that a costs order may include provision requiring the payment of such an amount where—

(a) the order is made in favour of a party to proceedings which include an environmental claim,

(b) the party has taken out a costs insurance policy insuring against the risk of incurring a liability to pay the costs of the opposing party, and

(c) the opposing party has agreed prior to the commencement of proceedings that the costs insurance policy should be taken out.”

Page 32, line 5, after “regulations” insert “under subsection (2)”

Page 32, line 8, at end insert—

“(4A) Regulations under subsection (2B) may include provision about the amount that may be required to be paid by the costs order in the event that additional cover beyond the extent of the cover as agreed by the opposing party was obtained by the party which took out the costs insurance policy.”

Page 32, line 17, at end insert—

““environmental claim” means a claim by which a person seeks any remedy or relief in respect of an act, omission or decision relating to the environment, and for the purpose of this section, an act, omission or decision relates to the environment if information about it would be environmental information within the meaning of Article 2(3) of the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Justice does at Aarhus, Denmark on 25th June 1998;”

The above-named Lords give notice of their intention to oppose the Question that Clause 45 stand part of the Bill.

Insert the following new Clause—

“Qualified one way costs shifting

(1) An unsuccessful Claimant in proceedings which include an environmental claim or which are brought under Part 54 of the Civil Procedure Rules shall not be ordered to pay the costs of any other party other than where the Claimant has acted unreasonably in bringing or conducting the proceedings.

(2) The Lord Chancellor may by regulations provide that a Claimant in proceedings other than proceedings which include an environmental claim or which are brought under Part 54 of the Civil Procedure Rules shall not be ordered to pay the costs of any other party other than where the Claimant has acted unreasonably in bringing or conducting the proceedings.

(3) “Environmental claim” means a claim by which a person seeks any remedy or relief in respect of an act, omission or decision relating to the environment, and for the purpose of this section, an act, omission or decision relates to the environment if information about it would be environmental information within the meaning of Article 2(3) of the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Justice does at Aarhus, Denmark on 25th June 1998.”

Page 38, line 36, at end insert “and shall include without limitation injunctive, declaratory or other non-monetary relief and any form of vindication of the claimant’s reputation.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Third party litigation funding

(1) A third party litigation funding agreement which satisfies all of the conditions applicable to it by virtue of this section shall not be unenforceable by reason only of it being a third party litigation funding agreement; but any other third party litigation funding agreement shall be unenforceable.

(2) A third party litigation funding agreement is an agreement under which a third party (“the funder”) agrees to fund (in whole or in part) the provision of advocacy or litigation services to another person (“the litigant”) by a person other than the funder in exchange for remuneration.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), “remuneration” includes—

(a) a payment or any other transfer of value representing or calculated by reference to the value of a judgment or settlement; and

(b) an assignment of the proceeds (in whole or in part) of any judgment or settlement.

(4) The following conditions are applicable to a third party litigation funding agreement—

(a) it must be in writing;

(b) it must not relate to—

(i) proceedings which by virtue of section 58A(1) and (2) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 cannot be the subject of an enforceable conditional fee agreement;

(ii) a multi-party action, representative action or any proceedings which are the subject of a Group Litigation Order; or

(iii) any other proceedings of a description prescribed by the Lord Chancellor;

(c) it must comply with such requirements as shall be prescribed by the Lord Chancellor.

(5) Regulations under subsection (4)(c) may—

(a) require any person which enters into a third party funding agreement with a litigant to first obtain a license from a licensing body to be designated by the Lord Chancellor; and

(b) set out conditions to be satisfied in order to obtain such a license.

(6) In this section “advocacy services” and “litigation services” are as defined in section 119 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.”

Page 39, line 24, at end insert “, or

(c) arranges for another person to provide, or is paid for the provision of, marketing services by unsolicited SMS text message, unsolicited telephone calls or any marketing in a hospital or other primary treatment centre.”

Page 40, line 35, at end insert—

“(b) for the purposes of providing a pooled marketing service, or”

Page 40, line 38, leave out subsection (9)

Insert the following new Clause—

“Third party’s insurance company

(1) A third party’s insurance company may not solicit a claimant who has a cause of action for personal injuries against its policy holder, to settle that cause of action where to the knowledge of the insurance company, the claimant is legally represented.

(2) A third party’s insurance company may not make an offer to settle in circumstances not prohibited by subsection (1), unless—

(a) it has obtained adequate medical evidence of the personal injury and has disclosed it to the claimant; and

(b) the claimant is advised when the offer is made of his right to obtain legal advice; and

(c) the offer is in full and final settlement of the cause of action.

(3) Any settlement made in breach of subsections (1) and (2) shall be void.”

Page 44, line 40, at end insert—

“( ) The court when requesting a pre-sentence report must ask for a social history on the offender from the Probation Service.”

Page 44, line 40, at end insert—

“( ) The court must consider the effects of sentencing on dependents.”

Page 109, leave out lines 6 to 19

Page 110, leave out lines 15 to 28

Page 111, line 39, at end insert—

“( ) The offence is not committed where the building has been empty for 6 months or more and where there are no significant steps being taken to refurbish, let or sell the building at the time of the trespass.”

The above-named Lords give notice of their intention to oppose the Question that Clause 130 stand part of the Bill.

Insert the following new Clause—

“Amendment to the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964

In section 5 (other offences relating to scrap metal) after subsection (2) insert—

“(3) If any scrap metal dealer accepts or makes payment in cash, that dealer shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(4) When deciding the level of fine to be charged under subsections (1) to (3), a court may take into account—

(a) the value of the scrap metal in question;

(b) the provenance of the scrap metal in question;

(c) the compliance of the scrap metal dealer with the provisions of sections (1) to (3) of this Act generally; and

(d) any other factors which the court deems to be relevant.”

Page 115, line 5, at end insert—

(1) Civil legal services provided in relation to the obtaining of one or more expert reports in clinical negligence proceedings.

(2) In this paragraph—

“clinical negligence proceedings” means proceedings which include a claim for damages in respect of clinical negligence;

“clinical negligence” means breach of a duty of care or trespass to the person committed in the course of the provision of clinical or medical services (including dental or nursing services);

“expert report” means a report by a person qualified to give expert advice on all or most of the matters that are the subject of the report;

“proceedings” includes any sort of proceedings for resolving disputes (and not just proceedings in court), whether commenced or contemplated.”

Page 115, line 5, at end insert—

Civil legal services and advocacy in appeals from the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal to the Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.”

Page 115, line 5, at end insert—

Civil legal services provided by members of the specialist panels of the Law Society or Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) for clinical negligence proceedings in respect of—

(a) a claim for damages in respect of an alleged breach of duty of care or trespass to the person committed in the course of the provision of clinical or medical services (including dental or nursing services); or

(b) a claim for damages in respect of alleged professional negligence in the conduct of such a claim.”

Page 116, line 1, at end insert—

Civil legal services provided in relation to a benefit, allowance, payment, credit or pension under—

(a) the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992,

(b) the Jobseekers Act 1995,

(c) the State Pension Credit Act 2002,

(d) the Tax Credits Act 2002,

(e) the Welfare Reform Act 2007,

(f) the Welfare Reform Act 2011, or

(g) any other enactment relating to social security.”

Page 116, line 4, at end insert “and under section 139 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 (learning difficulty assessments).”

Page 120, line 40, at end insert—

“( ) For the purposes of this paragraph, abuse will be presumed until the contrary is proved, where—

(a) there are ongoing domestic violence (or forced marriage) proceedings brought by the applicant for legal aid where the applicant has previously received legal aid or is funding proceedings privately or is acting as a litigant in person; or

(b) an order has been made in domestic violence (or forced marriage) proceedings brought by the applicant for legal aid, arising from the same family relationship; or

(c) there has been a finding of fact in the family courts of domestic violence by the other party giving rise to the risk of harm to the victim, but the victim has not already been granted legal aid;

(d) a non-molestation order, occupation order, forced marriage protection order or other protective order or injunction is in place against the applicant’s ex-partner (or in the case of forced marriage, against any other person); or

(e) undertakings have been given to a court in lieu of the orders referred to in (b) or (d) above; or

(f) the applicant’s partner has been convicted of a criminal offence concerning violence or abuse towards their family (unless the conviction is spent);

(g) there are ongoing criminal proceedings for a domestic violence offence by the other party towards the applicant for funding; or

(h) the applicant has been referred to a Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (as a high risk victim of domestic violence) and a plan has been put in place to protect them from violence by the other party; or

(i) injury to the applicant caused by domestic violence is certified by the written medical opinions of—

(i) the general medical practitioner of the applicant for legal aid; and

(ii) one other medically qualified practitioner.”

Page 120, leave out lines 42 to 45 and insert—

““abuse” means any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults, aged 18 or over, who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender and sexuality;”

Page 122, line 12, after “mediation” insert “and collaborative law”

Page 122, line 13, after “mediation” insert “and collaborative law”

Page 133, line 23, at end insert—

Civil legal services and advocacy in appeals from the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal to the Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.”

Page 137, line 29, leave out paragraph 15