Evidence submitted by Vera Baird QC MP,
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional
Affairs (LAR 174)
INTRODUCTION
1. Lord Carter of Coles published his proposals
for legal aid procurement in the final report of his review, "Legal
aid: A market based approach to reform", on 13 July 2006.
In parallel the DCA and LSC published a joint consultation document
entitled "Legal aid: A sustainable future" inviting
views on Lord Carter's recommendations and containing additional
material on proposals relating to civil, family and immigration
legal aid. The consultation period will run until 12 October 2006.
2. The Government needs to avoid pre-judging
the outcome of this consultation exercise and therefore this Memorandum
is only able to address substantively some of the issues that
the Committee raises in the Terms of Reference.
THE NEED
TO MODERNISE
THE PROCUREMENT
OF LEGAL
AID
3. The cost of legal aid has risen from
£1.5 billion in 1997 to £2.1 billion today, which represents
an increase of 10% in real terms. As Lord Carter stated in his
final report, it is not sustainable for the Legal Aid market to
remain in its current form where the cost to the taxpayer has
risen so substantially (See the Executive Summary of Lord Carter's
Review of Legal Aid Procurement).
4. Public funds are limited and the Department
is required to live within its budget. The DCA spending review
settlement for 2005-06 to 2007-08 amounted to 1.8% per annum increases
in real terms, which was broadly in line with the overall settlement
across Whitehall. However, on current assumptions funding for
legal aid is expected to increase on average by 2.8% per annum
in real terms over this period. Legal Aid is already over half
of the DCA's expenditure (55%) and therefore this increase will
squeeze the rest of the Department's expenditure, for example
the courts.
5. "A Fairer Deal for Legal Aid"[113]
was published in July 2005. It set out a new direction for
the provision of legal aid and a wide-ranging programme of reform.
Follow up to it has included publication of Lord Carter's Review
and the associated consultation document, and also:
— "Review of the Child Care Proceedings
System in England and Wales (published May 2006)".
— "Getting Earlier, Better Advice
to Vulnerable People" (March 2006).
— "Making Legal Rights a Reality:
Strategy for the Community Legal Service" (March 2006).
— "Quality Relationships Delivering
Quality Outcomes: Preferred Supplier Scheme Consultation"
(March 2006).
6. Taken together the work described in
these complements other Government activity to modernise the justice
system in line with improving court based justice as set out in
the "Criminal Justice Review: delivering simple, speedy summary
justice".
7. The overall objective in "A Fairer
Deal for Legal Aid" was the need for fair justice at a fair
price to taxpayers and detailed the following aims:
— Rebalancing the legal aid budget
to put it on a sustainable footing.
— Improving the way legal aid is provided
in the criminal justice system.
— Ensuring funds are available for
civil and family legal aid to provide a more effective legal service
for those who would not otherwise be able to access fair justice.
8. Lord Carter of Coles was asked to help
develop a plan for delivering a sustainable procurement system
which achieves maximum value for money and control over spending,
whilst allowing quality and fairness in the judicial process.
THE CONSULTATION
PROCESS
9. Lord Carter carried out his review in
a consultative manner by engaging in a positive dialogue with
a wide range of representative groups, to ensure that where possible
their final recommendations address the key concerns. Building
on this, a joint DCA and LSC consultation document was issued
simultaneously with the publication of the final Report. Over
6,000 copies of the Report and consultation document were sent
to legal aid suppliers and others known to have an interest.
10. Over the summer and early autumn there
has been a substantial programme of consultation throughout the
country. The Minister for Legal Aid, Vera Baird QC MP, has attended
25 open meetings on the proposals. Over 1,000 practitioners have
attended these events. In addition, there have been 14 supplier
briefing events to date organised by the Legal Services Commission
in locations throughout England and Wales with a total attendance
of approximately 2,000. There have also been regular meetings
with representative groups as well as visits to individual suppliers.
11. In its Terms of Reference the Committee
has raised a number of other issues including:
— Whether there is a need to modernise
the procurement of legal aid?
— Whether the timetable for implementation
suggested in Lord Carter's Report is realistic?
— What benefits might be generated
for defendants and others by adopting these proposals? Also what
impacts/disadvantages might result from implementation?
— What impact the proposals will have
on different communities (such as black, minority ethnic and rural
communities)?
— What impact any or all of the recommendations
will have on legal aid providers?
— How the proposals will affect firms
of differing size, structure and practitioner mix?
— Whether the measures proposed will
promote the provision of high quality advice and support the effective
and efficient operation of the Justice System?
12. Lord Carter has made proposals covering
all these areas and it would pre-judge the outcome of the current
consultation exercise to comment in detail at this stage.
13. Nevertheless, the Government's overall
aim is to ensure publicly funded legal services that are provided
at a fair price to both practitioner and taxpayer but this should
not be at the expense of quality.
October 2006
113 ***Author ? footnote ***
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