1 Introduction
Our inquiry
1. The Government's proposed reform of the legal
aid system is fundamental, extensive and bold. The Lord Chancellor's
foreword to the consultation paper makes it clear that the motivation
is two-fold: to stop the taxpayer funding unnecessary legal interventions;
and to save money.[1]
Furthermore, in oral evidence, Jonathan Djanogly MP, the Minister
with responsibility for legal aid, made the points that: there
can be inherent unfairness in the system where, in some cases,
it is available for one party in a case but not another; and that
there are significant inefficiencies in its delivery.[2]
In attempting to realise its objectives, the Government is proposing
to: restrict the scope of legal aid; reduce the level of fees
paid to providers; tighten the financial eligibility rules for
certain categories of people; make more litigants contribute to
the cost of proceedings and increase the level of contributions
required; take greater account of the capital people have when
determining their eligibility for legal aid; introduce alternative
sources of funding; and improve efficiency and reduce bureaucracy
in the administration of legal aid. There is a degree of consensus
amongst all political parties that the cost of legal aid needs
to be reduced, but it is imperative that there is a careful assessment
of the impact of the proposed changes on those people most dependent
on legal aid.
2. The Government's consultation paper was published
in November 2010 and the consultation period which followed it
closed on 14 February. The Government intends to respond to the
consultation (which generated 5,000 submissions) before Easter.[3]
In view of the importance of the legal aid system and the fundamental
nature of the Government's proposed reform of it, we have conducted
a short inquiry into those proposals and have produced this Report
in time to inform the Government's response to the consultation.
In that timescale we have not had the opportunity to consider
in detail many aspects of the proposals. In particular, while
we received written evidence relating to the Government's proposed
implementation of recommendations in Lord Jackson's Review
of the Cost of Civil Litigation, we do not focus on the issues
raised in that evidence in this Report. However, we are publishing
the written evidence on our website[4]
and may return to this issue in future work. In certain other
areas we have been unable to do little more than highlight some
of the evidence presented to us and give our headline conclusions.
3. Our principal objective in this Report is
to consider the impact of the Government's proposed reform on:
the cost of legal aid; litigants; the operation of courts and
tribunals; and the not-for-profit sector and the legal professionals
who provide services. Our focus, extensively but not exclusively,
has been on civil legal aid. We also examine the cost-drivers
for the legal aid system (described by the Lord Chancellor as
"one of the most expensive in the world"[5])
and consider whether other viable means of savings might be implemented,
possibly as an alternative to some of the Government's proposals.
4. The Committee has received written and oral
evidence from a wide range of individuals and organisations and
we are extremely grateful to all of them for providing that evidence,
especially in the relatively short timescale in which the inquiry
has been conducted.
1 Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England
and Wales, Consultation Paper CP12/10, November 2010, Cm 7967,
p 3 (from here on referred to as the Government's Consultation
Paper) Back
2
QQ 350, 369 and 370 Back
3
Q 414 Back
4
www.parliament.uk/justicecttee Back
5
The Government's Consultation Paper, p 3 Back
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