Supplementary evidence submitted by the
Legal Services Commission (LAR 230)
Thank you for your letter attaching the transcript
of oral evidence. In relation to Q386 this should read as follows:
The next documents to be issued in relation
to civil legal aid includes
— The LSC's strategy for family
legal aid: Making Legal Rights a Reality for Children and
Families. This sets out the LSC's priorities for the delivery
of family legal aid for the next five years.
— A paper re-consulting for six weeks
until 16 April 2007 on revised fee schemes for care proceedings
and family help—private, which will apply from October
2007. Changes include: retention of the uplift for panel membership
for advocacy and exceptional cases; lowering of the threshold
for exceptional cases; and increasing the graduation of the fees
in private law family cases.
— A paper consulting for 12 weeks until
24 May 2007 on changes to the Funding Code in relation to public
law children cases. This proposes to introduce a "reasonableness"
test for Special Children Act proceedings and remove residential
assessments from the scope of legal aid.
— Revised mental health and immigration
and asylum legal aid fee schemes to apply from October 2007.
Mental health changes include: a significant increase in the level
1 fee; clarification that each period of detention will be treated
as a new matter start for which preparation will be paid; and
an additional uplift for justifiable non-standard travel. Immigration
and asylum changes include: removal of the proposal to introduce
the early resolution payment; reduction of the exceptional case
limit; and separate claims for all disbursements, including interpreter
fees.
— A six week consultation—until
16 April 2007—on the general and category-specific sections
of the unified contract specification, and a separate specification
for contracting for services within Immigration Removal Centres,
to come into effect with the new fee schemes in October 2007.
At the time of writing the Mental Health and
Immigration and Asylum documents are for information only and
the others are for consultation.
March 2007
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