Evidence submitted by the Legal Services
Commission (LSC) (continued)
19. So far this year, the rate at which
new cases are being started is lower than it was last year. In
order to ensure that as many people as possible get the help they
need from the funds available, the Commission's Chief Executive
announced on 25 November 2003 that a further 20,000 "matter
starts" (authority to start new cases) were being made available
to solicitors for use by April 2004. The additional new matter
starts are focused on priority areas such as mental health and
family cases.
20. Although the number of cases being started
increased, the introduction of the contracting system also resulted
in a significant reduction in the number of solicitors' offices
that were able to provide publicly funded legal services—from
around 11,000 to around 5,000. This was expected: the solicitors
offices that dropped out of legal aid were mostly those doing
only very small amounts of publicly funded work or those who could
not meet the quality standards. The overall number of civil legal
aid contracts has reduced further since the introduction of the
contracting scheme, although there have been increases in the
number of contracts with the not-for-profit sector and in some
categories of law, such as immigration. Table 2, below, sets out
the change in numbers of contracts in specific categories of law
over the period since April 2000. These figures exceed the number
of individual solicitors' offices and advice agencies, since they
will often have a contract in more than one category.
Table 2
GENERAL CIVIL
CONTRACTS 2000 TO
2003
|
| March 2000
| | March 2001
|
|
| Category | Solicitors
| NfP | Total |
Solicitors | NfP |
Total |
| Family | 4,283 | 3
| 4,286 | 4,036 | 3
| 4,039 |
| Mental Health | 322 | 8
| 330 | 349 | 6
| 355 |
| Debt | 452 | 180
| 632 | 365 | 184
| 549 |
| Employment | 342 | 69
| 411 | 300 | 73
| 373 |
| Consumer | 189 | 5
| 194 | 145 | 6
| 151 |
| Housing | 733 | 108
| 841 | 673 | 115
| 788 |
| Welfare Benefits | 451 | 233
| 684 | 391 | 245
| 636 |
| Education | 31 | 4
| 35 | 40 | 4 |
44 |
| Community Care | 25 | 0
| 25 | 38 | 0 |
38 |
| Actions Against the Police | 37
| 0 | 37 | 60 |
0 | 60 |
| Public Law | 9 | 0
| 9 | 26 | 0 |
26 |
| Immigration | 419 | 63
| 482 | 482 | 66
| 548 |
| Personal injury | 0 | 0
| 0 | 1,888 | 0
| 1,888 |
| Clinical Negligence | 0 | 0
| 0 | 251 | 0 |
251 |
| Total | 7,293 |
673 | 7,966 | 9,044
| 702 | 9,746 |
| Tolerance | 4,445 |
| | 4,216 | |
|
| March 2002
| | March 2003
|
|
| Category | Solicitors
| NfP | Total |
Solicitors | NfP |
Total |
|
| Family | 3,757 | 3
| 3,760 | 3,591 | 4
| 3,595 |
| Mental Health | 345 | 7
| 352 | 346 | 9
| 355 |
| Debt | 302 | 213
| 515 | 242 | 233
| 475 |
| Employment | 240 | 76
| 316 | 212 | 76
| 288 |
| Consumer | 109 | 4
| 113 | 92 | 2 |
94 |
| Housing | 585 | 122
| 707 | 531 | 131
| 662 |
| Welfare Benefits | 319 | 269
| 588 | 266 | 290
| 556 |
| Education | 44 | 8
| 52 | 50 | 11 |
61 |
| Community Care | 45 | 4
| 49 | 55 | 7 |
62 |
| Actions Against the Police | 71
| 0 | 71 | 75 |
0 | 75 |
| Public Law | 27 | 1
| 28 | 36 | 3 |
39 |
| Immigration | 514 | 77
| 591 | 555 | 89
| 644 |
| Personal injury | 1,494 | 0
| 1,494 | 1,368 | 0
| 1,368 |
| Clinical Negligence | 300 |
0 | 300 | 295 |
0 | 295 |
| Total | 8,152 |
784 | 8,936 | 7,714
| 855 | 8,569 |
| Tolerance | 3,884 |
| | 3,187 | |
|
|
21. The current civil legal aid contract for solicitors'
firms expires on 31 March 2004. The Commission has undertaken
a bidding round for new contracts to run from 1 April 2004, in
order to allow new firms to enter the market, to focus services
on the areas of need, and to drive up standards. Firms wanting
to be considered for a new contract were required to register
by 1 October 2003. The Commission's Regional Directors then decided
where contracts could be awarded immediately (or refused if they
would not meet priority needs) and where it was necessary to choose
between bids by holding a competitive bid round.
22. Nationally, over 90% of currently contracted firms
applied to renew their contracts (the regional range is between
89% and 99%). Any shortfall was more than compensated for by applications
for new contracts, either from existing firms wanting to expand,
or new ones wanting to take up legal aid. In some regions, the
numbers seeking a contract considerably exceeded the current level
of supply. This was particularly true in London and in certain
categories of law. This high level of interest means that we are
holding competitive bid rounds in many areas.
23. Despite the encouraging demand for legal aid contracts
from April 2004, however, we remain concerned about provision
of services in certain categories of law. The number of housing
contracts, for example, has fallen from 841 in April 2000 to 595
in December 2003 (though the number of new cases started in housing
has remained relatively stable—89,946 in 2000/01, 87,177
in 2001/02 and 88,170 in 2002/03). In order to ensure access to
legal services in the housing category, we are taking a number
of steps, many of which are demonstrated by the information we
have given in Annex A:
— We are aiming to award new housing law contracts
as part of the current bidding round.
— We are continuing to provide telephone advice
services for housing law problems and will consider making this
service available nationally in future.
— We are working with others on early intervention
in problems which create housing disputes. Possession proceedings
could often be avoided, for example, if housing benefit administration
were improved.
— We have commenced exploratory talks with Shelter
about a new national contract and partnership arrangement which
would enable to it to deliver services in a more flexible way
across England and Wales.
24. Early indications are that the bid round will be
successful in filling a number of previously identified gaps in
supply, but work is still under way. We will be able to provide
further evidence during the course of the Committee's Inquiry
about the outcome of this process.
CRIMINAL DEFENCE
SERVICE
25. The key measures of whether practitioners are moving
out of CDS work are the number of CDS contracts and the viability
of court and police station duty solicitor schemes.
26. When contracts for CDS work were first introduced
in April 2001 there were approximately 2,900 contracted offices.
As at January 2004 the Commission still has approximately 2,900
contracted offices. However, within this number there is a small
but continuous movement, with some offices giving up contracts
and new offices becoming contracted.
27. The Commission operates over 300 police station and
court duty solicitor schemes across England and Wales. All of
these schemes have remained effective since contracting was introduced
in 2001.
28. By these measures, sufficient numbers of solicitors
continue to undertake CDS work and there is no indication of a
major net withdrawal of existing practitioners from this work.
However, anecdotal information is that young lawyers are not being
attracted into this area of work and that recruitment is becoming
increasingly difficult. We are addressing this issue by supporting
the training of future lawyers and advisors, as set out in paragraph
52 below.
PART II: IMPROVING ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES
What action is being taken in order to ensure that there is
access to legally aided advice in all legal specialisms?
29. We have been quick to recognise the need for services
in areas of legal specialism, and have prioritised, for example,
the funding of new contracts for Community Care. Table 2, at paragraph
20 above, shows the growth in the number of legal aid contracts
for these and other categories of law since the introduction of
the CLS.
30. The number of contracts for each category of law
is a good indication of our view of, and approach to, issues of
access to specialist services. Family problems are common, for
example, and high street solicitors' firms typically offer family
law services for this reason. There is a large, well-distributed
network of solicitors' firms with legal aid contracts in the family
law category, and the contracts provide that they are able to
start a small number of cases in other categories of law in order
to ensure a good overall level of available services. There are
fewer contracts for legal services in categories of law like community
care and clinical negligence. We regard these as equivalent to
highly specialised areas of medical practice, where it is reasonable
to expect people to travel to get help. For some specialist categories
of law, further factors must be taken into account in order to
understand how many providers are needed and where they should
be located. Legal services in the mental health category, for
example, are most effective when they have easy access to mental
hospitals.
31. We recognise, however, that our work in developing
the CLS takes place in the context of limited public funding for
legal services. This means that much of our work is concentrated
on identifying and meeting the most important needs for funding—often
involving difficult choices between competing priorities.
32. We are increasingly approaching the provision of
access to legal services in a holistic way, rather than simply
focusing on legally aided advice. It is by working with others,
both in Government and elsewhere, that we believe that we can
work most effectively towards social inclusion.
33. The Commission's regional offices work continuously
to identify needs for legal services, and to award contracts and
form partnerships to meet them:
— As set out in paragraphs 7 to 10 above, RLSCs
analyse the local needs assessment evidence produced by Community
Legal Service Partnerships, and the information produced by the
Commission's internal management systems and intelligence. RLSCs
use this evidence and information to produce a report identifying
the priorities for Commission contracts in the region. The Commission's
Regional Directors respond to the RLSC reports with regional Contracting
Strategies. These documents outline the way in which the priorities
and recommendations set out in the RLSC Report will be addressed
— Throughout the year, continual adjustments are
made to contracts with both solicitors' firms and not-for-profit
agencies, ensuring that the money available for legal aid is used
to best effect. If a firm is starting fewer new cases than authorised
by the contract, the money that we anticipated we would need to
pay for those cases can be spent elsewhere—in areas where
the demand for services is higher or a previously unidentified
need has emerged
— When regional offices become aware that gaps in
services may develop, (where, for example, a solicitors' firm
is considering moving from an area where there is a need for advice),
they actively seek ways to encourage new services into the area.
This might involve talking to other solicitors' firms or advice
agencies about starting new services in the area, or encouraging
existing local firms and agencies to broaden the range of services
they deliver
Can the requirement for legal aid be reduced by the resolution
of some legal issues on a more informal basis, though the Citizens'
Advice Bureaux, long distance services or otherwise?
34. Some of the most pressing problems faced by vulnerable
members of society, including problems concerning welfare benefits
and debt, have not been part of the service traditionally offered
by solicitors' firms. Before the CLS, there was a substantial
shortfall in the availability of advice for people with those
sorts of problems. We have now refocused public funding towards
the not-for-profit sector, which has far greater relevant expertise.
The introduction of the CLS has seen Commission funding for the
not-for-profit sector increase from a negligible amount to more
than £50 million per year—including about £25
million per year for Citizens' Advice Bureaux and about £10
million per year for Law Centres.
35. In addition to this, the Commission has put in place
a number of initiatives to improve access to justice which go
beyond the traditional model of legal aid provided by solicitors
from their own offices. We set out below details of these initiatives—some
already in place and some planned.
OUTREACH SERVICES
UNDER COMMISSION
CONTRACTS
36. Contracts can authorise suppliers to provide outreach
sessions to cover areas where there is no current contractor.
This is particularly useful in remote areas or small conurbations,
where there would not be enough work to sustain a full time contract.
For example:
— in the Tyne Valley, we have a contract with a
solicitors' firm based in Hexham which includes one day each fortnight
delivering legal services in a community hall in Haltwhistle,
some 16 miles away;
— in Norfolk, we have a contract with a Citizens'
Advice Bureau for the provision of specialist debt and welfare
benefits advice in five towns where that service would not otherwise
be available.
DEVELOPMENT OF
TELEPHONE ADVICE
SERVICES
37. The Commission has piloted telephone advice services
since January 2000. The pilot was designed to help address gaps
in provision of legal services, and to help people in rural areas,
people with disabilities and others who might find it difficult
to reach a face-to-face adviser, to obtain access to justice.
Under the pilot, a range of organisations including firms of solicitors,
CABx and a commercial call centre have provided a specialist telephone
advice and casework service covering large parts of the country.
The main categories of law offered were Debt, Employment, Housing
and Welfare Benefits.
38. The telephone pilot project has now been evaluated.
The evaluation report was approved by the Legal Services Commission
on 28 October 2003. The findings of the pilot were very positive
and showed that telephone advice:
— can successfully offer a specialist casework service;
— achieves equivalent outcomes more quickly than
face-to-face advice;
— attracts a similar range of clients (in terms
of age, ethnicity etc), including people who would not otherwise
have sought advice;
— produces outcomes that are equivalent to those
achieved by face-to-face services, and with which clients are
satisfied.
39. Based on these promising results, the Commission
has decided to develop telephone advice on a national basis. We
plan to introduce a national service offering advice on Debt,
Welfare Benefits and Education law with effect from Summer 2004.
The new telephone service will incorporate the existing national
Community Legal Service Directory Line (which directs callers
to Quality Marked lawyers and advisors near them) and Leaflet
Ordering Line, so that all of the services the CLS offers by phone
can be accessed through a single 0845 (local rate) number. All
services will be Quality Marked at the Specialist level, and will
have access to minicom and Language Line.
40. Debt and Welfare Benefits have been chosen as the
first legal specialisms that will be available through the national
telephone service because they are identified as priorities in
most regions, and because the pilot has shown that many problems
in these categories can be handled very effectively over the phone.
Education is a developing area of law where there is little provision
because the level of need or demand in a given area is often not
sufficient to justify a local face-to-face contract; a specialist
advice line could cover the whole country using a single provider.
We will continue to provide telephone advice on housing problems
in the pilot areas, and are exploring options for a national service.
JUSTASK!,
ITS PARTNER
SITES, AND
THE INTERNET
41. JustAsk! (www.justask.org.uk) is the website of the
Community Legal Service. It contains:
— An advice search function, where people can type
in a question or click on a topic to see links to around 300 carefully
selected advice and information websites covering a wide range
of legal specialisms, including welfare benefits, debt, employment
and housing.
— Downloadable versions of the Community Legal Service
information leaflets, written by independent experts and outlining
legal rights in a clear, easy to understand way.
— An online version of the Community Legal Service
Directory, enabling people to find Quality Marked lawyers and
advisors near them.
— A legal aid calculator, so that people can check
their eligibility for legal aid.
42. The JustAsk! website has recently been revamped and
relaunched with eye catching new leaflets and posters that we
will be distributing to organisations across England and Wales
in the coming months.
43. The publicity for the new website is aimed at four
main groups of people. The first three are groups we have identified
as having most difficulty in accessing their legal rights: young
people aged between 19 and 25, disabled people and those living
in rural areas (that is, those who are geographically isolated).
The fourth group is "problem noticers"—people
without legal training (health visitors and teachers, for example)
who have regular contact with others who may have legal problems.
44. There are now over 40,000 visits to JustAsk! each
month, with each visitor accessing an average of five to six different
pages.
DEVELOPMENT OF
THE PARTNERSHIP
INITIATIVE BUDGET
45. To date, the Commission has undertaken two rounds
of funding through the Partnership Initiative Budget (formerly
the Partnership Innovation Budget). The first round focused on
identifying new ways of providing services. The second round focused
on ensuring that socially excluded groups gained better access
to the services and, where possible, that services were developed
which helped to avoid people needing to seek legal advice and
representation in the first place.
46. Two examples of projects funded through the Partnership
Initiative Budget are:
— a project in Calderdale, which provides legal
information and advice at a local women's centre. The venue was
chosen because the project's clients, who include women from ethnic
minorities and victims of domestic violence, feel secure and able
to discuss their problems there. The project has been a huge success
already and has secured additional funding of just over £1million
from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and the Home Office in order
to maintain and develop the service;
— a project in Liverpool, which works with primary
healthcare staff, offering legal advice either at doctors' surgeries,
by outreach or by home visit. Many of the project's clients would
not otherwise have sought advice. The project has already secured
over £500,000 in additional benefits for its clients and
the Primary Care Trust has agreed to provide additional funding
for its work.
47. We now propose further developments to this stream
of funding, giving our Regional offices a resource which they
can use flexibly to help fill the highest priority gaps in the
local supply of legal services.
SPECIALIST SUPPORT
SERVICES
48. Specialist Support services aim to provide advice,
mentoring and support to organisations working within the Community
Legal Service, in order to help them undertake cases which would
otherwise be beyond their ability.
49. The Commission has operated a Specialist Support
pilot since 2000. It is scheduled to finish in April 2004 and
has now been evaluated. We have concluded that Specialist Support
does improve access to legal services for clients by allowing
them to take advantage of higher levels of expert advice than
are available on a local basis. This also reduces the need for
clients to be referred
50. From April 2004, therefore, we plan to make Specialist
Support services available in employment, immigration, HIV/AIDS,
community care, housing, mental health, human rights/public law,
welfare benefits and debt.
51. As well as providing local advisors with experts
to consult about their casework, the Specialist Support service
will provide training programmes in each region and in Wales,
helping front-line advisors to develop their knowledge and increase
their capacity to take on cases.
FUNDING THE
TRAINING OF
FUTURE LAWYERS
AND ADVISORS
52. In order to ensure that the supply of legal services
is sustainable, we have developed a number of initiatives designed
to support solicitors' firms, advice agencies and future generations
of advisors:
— The most prominent is a scheme to develop the
next generation of legal aid solicitors by providing grant support
for training. The scheme has been running for two years and will
cost nearly £7 million over four years. It will help train
300 new solicitors to work in legal aid. The scheme focuses on
rural and smaller urban areas, and the awards to solicitors' firms
are based on the priorities identified by the Commission's Regional
Directors. They therefore focus on categories of law and geographical
areas where gaps in supply have been identified.
— We are also about to launch initiatives that will
support the work of the not-for-profit sector by investing in
training to develop the skills needed to manage Commission contracts
successfully.
— In addition, we are working with the Law Society,
the Young Solicitors' Group, the College of Law and other Legal
Practice Course providers to develop new ways of promoting legal
aid work as a career of choice. Ideas under consideration include:
encouraging successful legal aid lawyers to become ambassadors;
developing case studies which demonstrate the satisfaction of
being able to make a difference through legal aid work; and ensuring
a presence at careers fairs and on relevant websites.
INFORMATION POINTS
AND RELATIONSHIPS
WITH GOVERNMENT
DEPARTMENTS
53. We are building a network of information points throughout
England and Wales which will make it easier for people to find
out about the help they can get from the Community Legal Service.
We are increasingly doing so in partnership with major public
services provided by Government.
54. A good example is our work with Jobcentre Plus. We
have been in discussion with Jobcentre Plus in our Eastern Region,
and have developed a pathfinder agreement there which will see
all Jobcentres displaying Community Legal Service leaflets and
posters, and pointing customers towards our telephone services,
website and face-to-face advice services where appropriate. We
would like to see this relationship extended nationally and in
Wales for the mutual benefit of Jobcentre Plus and Community Legal
Service customers.
55. Another example of the way in which we are seeking
to build relationships with major national initiatives is our
work, with the DTI and others across Government and in the advice
sector, on the creation of a single national telephone gateway
to debt advice services. The gateway, which would provide access
to national telephone services for debt problems via a single
telephone number, was a key proposal in the DTI's White Paper
on consumer credit, Fair, Clear and Competitive—The Consumer
Credit Market in the 21st Century, which was published in December
2003.
56. In the future, we plan to build on the success of
projects delivering civil legal services in criminal justice and
health service settings in particular. These projects, which are
largely funded through the Partnership Initiative Budget, are
currently fairly small in number, but would offer significant
opportunities for improving access to justice if they were to
be brought into the mainstream. This aspect of our work will involve
us in closer engagement with Criminal Justice System and Health
Service agencies in particular.
ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE
RESOLUTION
57. We believe that early and informal dispute resolution
will usually give greater benefits to the client than contested
court proceedings. Legal aid has for too long been seen as a system
which merely funds, and thereby encourages, adversarial litigation.
We apply criteria in our Funding Code to discourage proceedings
where there are reasonable alternatives to pursue, whether in
the form of negotiation, complaint and ombudsmen schemes or other
forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution such as mediation. We
encourage and support all forms of ADR. Family mediation services
are a core part of our funded services. For non-family cases the
use of mediation is less extensive but growing, especially with
the encouragement we have provided in the mediation of clinical
negligence claims.
58. However we are keen to go further. We are planning
to issue a major consultation, aimed at further facilitating the
early resolution of clients' problems, with litigation being viewed
as the last resort in most circumstances. In family cases we plan
to restructure the Funding Code with incentives to settle private
law disputes without the issue of proceedings, and will pilot
this new approach through FAInS suppliers (see below). For cases
involving clinical negligence and claims against the police, improved,
independent complaint schemes are being established, and we would
like to see them widely used. This will reduce the extent of costly
litigation where lawyers on both sides are being supported at
public expense.
THE FAMILY
ADVICE & INFORMATION
SERVICE (FAINS)
59. This initiative is testing new ways of delivering
family legal aid services aimed at helping couples to dissolve
broken relationships in ways that minimise distress to parents
and children, and which promote ongoing family relationships and
co-operative parenting. Central to this is the provision of tailored
information and advice that is pertinent to each client's situation,
and diverts them away from litigation. This information and advice
also helps clients to access non-legal family support services,
which can assist them with the other issues associated with family
breakdown.
60. Research has shown that family problems generally
come together with other sorts of problems in definable "clusters".
Family problems also impact on children's development and their
ability to achieve their potential. Recent research by the Social
Exclusion Unit into youth homelessness showed that 80 per cent
of young runaways gave "family problems" (family conflict
or family break-up) as their main reason for running away from
home. The right support and advice at the right time can have
a significant impact in assisting families to resolve problems
before they become crises and thereby reduce their need to access
other state services in the future.
61. The Family Advice & Information Service (FAInS)
aims to promote the specialist nature of publicly funded family
work, and reward the skill, experience and expertise required
to perform this important "socio-legal" role in the
community. The primary supplier base comprises family solicitors,
and the Law Society's Family Law Protocol provides the backbone
of best practice that FAInS aspires to. To further encourage the
promotion of settlement rather than litigation, the project will
be piloting a new level of family funding that will remove incentives
for solicitors and clients to litigate using public funds and
provide financial incentives that encourage resolution of disputes
away from the court.
62. The FAInS initiative is building on the success of
the introduction of publicly funded family mediation, which was
introduced as part of the Community Legal Service. There are currently
218 contracted family mediation providers of which 63 are not-for-profit
providers and 155 are for-profit providers (mostly solicitors'
firms). The total number of family mediations started each year
continues to increase—nearly 14,000 new mediations were
started during 2002-03, an increase of 12 per cent over the previous
year—and there has been a reduction in costs since the implementation
of new contracting arrangements. In the first 10 months of these
new arrangements (ie December 02 to September 03) over half of
all mediations started had a positive outcome.
63. The majority of mediation cases carried out cover
all issues (ie they deal with both financial aspects of family
breakdown and contact/residence issues.) It is these types of
cases that generally tend to be the most expensive should they
proceed to litigation).
How can the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Legal
Services Commission provide incentives for legal aid practitioners
to continue legally aided work?
64. Together with the Department for Constitutional Affairs,
the Commission is in the process of reviewing the purchasing arrangements
for legal aid. A report by Frontier Economics, commissioned by
the Department, concludes that, at current levels of remuneration,
we should be able to secure sufficient supply to meet demand.
This finding suggests that there is no case, at this time, for
a general increase in remuneration rates—although this does
not preclude the possibility of the need for targeted increases
in certain categories of law, such as housing, in order to ensure
continued supply.
65. Frontier also recommends that the Commission should
review the way in which it currently purchases legal services,
examining in particular ways of increasing competition and incentives
that could be provided to secure good outcomes for clients. We
are developing a suite of pilots designed to test the feasibility
and viability of the ideas emerging from Frontier's work.
66. We have already recognised that remuneration increases
are not the only means by which we can encourage legal aid practitioners
to take up, or continue to provide, publicly funded work. We have
listened to what the profession has been telling us, and we know
that many of the requirements of contracting and the Quality Mark
are seen as unnecessarily bureaucratic.
67. Measures we have taken to reduce bureaucracy under
the contract include the abolition in April 2001 of the initial
two-hour limit for Legal Help and improvements to our forms. In
addition, we introduced a revised audit process in April 2003
that moves away from a one-size-fits-all approach towards one
which enables us to target our efforts. The new process means
that we can undertake less exhaustive, less frequent audits for
the best solicitors' firms and advice agencies. We are consulting
on further measures to ease the burden on firms (such as reducing
the requirements to keep old files) and will continue to work
with the profession to improve the position.
68. We are also proposing to extend this line of thinking
by testing, with a small number of the best suppliers of legal
services, ideas for an entirely new type of relationship between
the Commission and the organisations it funds. Working with representatives
from the Law Society, Advice Services Alliance, Legal Aid Practitioners
Group and others, we will be making proposals for a Preferred
Suppliers Pilot, which will examine the ways in which the Commission
defines and purchases legal services, and the rewards and guarantees
it offers in return.
Would a salaried service or the provision of law centres be
a viable solution to a lack of provision, either in areas without
sufficient practitioners or elsewhere? What would be the comparative
funding costs of a salaried service?
COMMUNITY LEGAL
SERVICE
69. We have already explained how we have refocused funding
towards the not-for-profit sector. Part of that funding has been
directed to Law Centres. In our North Western Region, the Commission,
working with partners including local authorities and the Law
Centres Federation, helped to establish three new Law Centres,
in Stockport, Trafford and Bury, during 2002-03.
70. We have no current plans to put in place a salaried
service for the generality of legal services falling within the
CLS. As part of our overall review of legal aid, however, we are
considering whether a salaried service would be a cost-effective
way of dealing with pockets of unmet need.
CRIMINAL DEFENCE
SERVICE
71. The Commission has already demonstrated that it is
possible to establish and operate a salaried service to provide
criminal defence services. The Public Defender Service (PDS) was
established in 2001 with a four year research programme operating
alongside it. The purpose of the PDS is:
— to provide independent, high quality and value-for-money
criminal defence services to the public;
— nationally, and locally, to provide examples of
excellence in the provision of criminal defence services;
— to provide us with benchmarking information to
be used to improve the performance of the contracting regime with
private practice suppliers;
— to raise the level of understanding within Government,
the Department for Constitutional Affairs, and parts of the Commission,
of the issues facing criminal defence lawyers in providing high
quality services to the public;
— to provide us with an additional option for ensuring
the provision of quality criminal defence services in geographic
areas where existing provision is low or of a poor standard;
— to recruit, train and develop people to provide
high quality criminal defence services—in accordance with
the PDS's own business needs—which will add to the body
of such people available to provide criminal defence services
generally;
— to share with private practice suppliers best
practice, in terms of forms, systems, etc., developed within the
PDS to assist in the overall improvement of CDS provision.
72. The first PDS office was opened in Liverpool in May
2001 and the Commission now has eight PDS offices. These offices
are located in Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cheltenham,
Chester, Darlington, Swansea and Pontypridd.
73. These offices have been successful in attracting
and retaining high quality, committed lawyers and support staff,
building a client base from zero and attracting a high proportion
of return clients. We believe that the PDS has made significant
progress in meeting its objectives.
74. The PDS offices are subject to a four year research
programme undertaken by independent academic researchers. This
research will be completed towards the end of 2005. The research
is examining, amongst other matters, the absolute and comparative
quality and cost of work done by the PDS offices. In the light
of the Commission's operational experience in running the PDS
for over two years, our view is that PDS offices are a viable
option for providing services in areas where there would not otherwise
be access to CDS services.
75. Traditionally, Law Centres have not undertaken criminal
defence work and have focused on civil work. There are currently
no Law Centres with a CDS contract, but there is no barrier to
a not-for-profit organisation obtaining a CDS contract provided
that the general and professional requirements for the award of
such a contract are met.
76. As the CDS develops, we believe that it will consist
of a number of different types of supplier and a number of different
relationships with those suppliers. This will be a move away from
the current "one size fits all" approach to the contract
and methods of remuneration. The issues facing a supplier in the
centre of a major urban area where there are high crime levels
and, therefore, high volumes of cases to be undertaken, are very
different to those facing a supplier in a rural part of East Anglia.
Similarly, the underlying cost of provision in different parts
of the country varies. We believe that, in order to maintain accessible,
efficient, good quality services across the country, different
models of delivery will need to be available. These models might
include, in appropriate circumstances, not-for-profit agencies
operating under contract to the Commission.
77. It is too early in the Public Defender Service pilot
to provide meaningful figures comparing funding with that for
private practice. However, this is one of the issues which the
pilot and the independent research into it will answer for us.
The research will be completed in 2005.
78. The cost of running the service to date has been
as set out in Table 3 below.
Table 3
PDS RUNNING COSTS
|
| Set Up Costs
| Central Running Costs
| PDS Office Running Costs
| Total Cost |
|
| 2001-02 | £1,319,834
| £74,532 | £1,430,165
| £2,824,531 |
| 2002-03 | £681,231
| £142,770 | £2,654,242
| £3,478,243 |
2003-04
(extrapolated from first six month's outturn)
| £44,860 | £210,094
| £3,176,044 | £3,430,998
|
|
|
