Legal Aid Bill Criticised by Joint Committee
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has published its report on the Legal Aid Bill, just as the Bill enters into Committee stage (20th December 2011) in the House of Lords. The Joint Committee is appointed by the House of Lords and the House of Commons to consider matters relating to human rights in the United Kingdom.
Hywell Davis MP, Chair of the Committee said: ”Legal Aid is a vital safeguard of people’s right to access justice. We are concerned that certain aspects of the Bill will undermine that right. While we welcome the Government’s proposed amendments to enable victims of domestic violence to continue to obtain Legal Aid, we doubt that the Bill as drafted will achieve that aim. We are also concerned that the Government have not demonstrated that the proposed Director of Legal Aid Casework will be sufficiently independent to ensure fair access to Legal Aid in cases against the Government, in the absence of a right to appeal to an independent court or tribunal”
The Report helpfully focuses on many of the arguments which the FLBA and others have been making to MPs and Peers over the last months. The report is critical of the Government’s impact assessments for failing properly to assess the extent of the likely impact of the changes to legal aid on various groups of vulnerable people. It further comments on the failure of the impact assessments to take into account the likely cost to the justice system of the expected increase in the numbers of litigants in person as a result of the changes to the scope of legal aid contained in the Bill. The Committee expresses its hope that the Government will make clear during the Bill’s passage through the House of Lords their assessment of the likely increase in the number of litigants in person and the associated cost to the public purse arising from the lengthier proceedings likely to result.
The Committee further highlights its concern over the Bill’s domestic violence provisions. The Joint committee recommends that the Bill be amended by using the ACPO definition of domestic violence, broadening the forms of evidence which are capable of establishing that domestic violence has taken place, and removing the 12 months time limit on eligibility.
These are important points made made by an influential committee at a vital stage of the Parliamentary process, and are much welcomed.