6 Conclusion
171. The full cost implications
of the Government's proposals cannot be predicted with a great
deal of accuracy given the difficulties in knowing what impact
behavioural change will have on the number of cases brought to
the courts and the incidence of litigants in person.
172. There is insufficient information
about the impact of litigants in person on court processes, although
we welcome the literature review and related work being undertaken
by the Department in order to gain a better understanding of this
issue. In any event, it seems probable that the Government's
proposals, if implemented, are likely to lead to an increase in
the number of litigants in person. We urge the Government to
build on the findings of its ongoing research by establishing
an expert group, involving members of the judiciary, lawyers and
others, to review what can be done to make more effective the
manner in which the courts and tribunals handle litigants in person,
with a view both to making recommendations aimed at containing
costs and ensuring that justice is done.
173. We have identified a number
of areas where more radical change, going beyond the savings required
in the short-term, should be explored. These will require the
building up of a better evidence base.
174. The Government's proposals
to reduce the cost of legal aid are a response to the budgetary
situation and to the high level of expenditure on legal aid in
this country by comparison with others. The proposals present
a severe challenge to many of those involved with the justice
system, because they assume that less use will be made of legal
proceedings, that voluntary and not-for-profit organisations in
difficult financial circumstances will be able to find new ways
of funding legal advice, and that courts and tribunals will make
it easier for litigants to appear before them without legal assistance.
In our view it will also be necessary for public bodies to improve
their decision-making so as to generate fewer appeals to the courts
and tribunals, an approach which needs to be encouraged by shifting
financial responsibility for some of the costs to the bodies whose
decisions incur them. Ministers need also to look at other proposals
to reduce the cost of legal aid, such as stricter merit tests
applied by the courts with regard to judicial review. The Government's
proposals, which need considerable further refinement, assume
a major change in the way the accessibility of the justice system
has come to be viewed, and it is a change for which many of those
involved are unprepared.
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