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< Previous | Contents | Next > CONSULTATION ON REFORM OF CIVIL ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE
Dear Colleague CONSULTATION ON REFORM OF CIVIL ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE Hugh Henry MSP, Deputy Minister for Justice at the Scottish Executive, indicated at the Joint Legal Aid Conference organised by the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Legal Aid Board on 29 October 2004 that the Scottish Executive intends to take forward the proposals for the reform of civil advice and assistance which have been developed by the Tri-Partite Consultation Group of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Executive. The enclosed paper sets out the proposals for the first stage of the reform and asks for your views on the desirability and feasibility of the changes proposed. This letter sets the current proposals in the context of the Executive’s commitment to continue to modernise legal aid. Modernising legal aid The reform of civil advice and assistance is a key part of the Executive’s continuing programme to modernise legal aid. The core principles underpinning this modernisation can be summarised as:
In addition to these core principles for modernisation of legal aid, the Minister for Justice has also indicated that modernisation should focus on the needs of ordinary people who need to use the legal system. It should result in better access to legal advice, representation and information, so that people are able to get legal advice when they need it, wherever they may live and whatever their particular needs may be. Scope of the reform proposals The proposals mark a separation between civil and criminal advice and assistance. This will be crucial in the longer term for enabling the development of consistent, coherent and coordinated systems for civil legal assistance on the one hand and criminal legal assistance on the other. The current proposals form the first stage in wider ranging reforms of civil advice and assistance. In the longer term detailed proposals will be developed relating to the role of non-lawyers in the provision of legal advice, the role and remuneration of specialists, and changes to the ‘clawback’ system to allow the recovery of enhanced fees in appropriate cases. This consultation does not cover these issues. The proposals and the Strategic Review of the Delivery of Legal Aid, Advice and Information The Report on the Strategic Review1 of the Delivery of Legal Aid, Advice and Information was published on 29 October 2004. The Review sets out a series of recommendations, both on the principles which should underpin the delivery of publicly funded legal assistance (PFLA) and on how these principles might be reflected in specific parts of the system. The Review considers the current proposals for the reform of civil advice and assistance and concludes that they are consistent with the strategic framework and principles for PFLA set out throughout the Report. Ministers are currently considering the Review as a whole and will be consulting separately on many of the issues it covers. The Deputy Minister for Justice has already endorsed some of the principles set out for PFLA in the Review, including the encouragement of the early resolution of legal problems, fair remuneration for practitioners and best value for taxpayers’ money. These principles are reflected in the proposals for the reform of civil advice and assistance on which we are now seeking views. The Deputy Minister for Justice has also set out the Executive’s view of the principles for a fair and modern remuneration structure for legal aid. These principles are:
The proposals for a revised remuneration structure for civil advice and assistance are intended to reflect these principles. Impact assessment We have not, at this stage, carried out a detailed assessment of the likely impact of the proposals on members of different minority groups. However, on the basis of an initial scoping exercise, it seems that such an assessment is likely to be relevant. We intend to begin the process during the consultation period. To help us ensure that our assessment is as complete as possible, we would be particularly interested in your views as to whether you think the proposals might impact differently on particular minority groups compared to the population as a whole. Responding to this consultation paper The proposals contained in the attached paper set out a substantial package of reforms. The Executive is keen to move these reforms forward as soon as possible. The immediate priorities are the proposed changes to the procedures for civil advice and assistance and solicitors’ remuneration. It is intended to introduce these in April 2005, and to introduce the changes to financial eligibility and contributions a couple of months later. To allow the consideration of responses in time for the introduction of the regulations required to implement the first set of changes by April 2005, the consultation period will run until 28 January 2005. We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 28 January 2005. Please send your response to: or Civil Advice and Assistance Reform Consultation If you have any queries contact Lynn Dempster on 0131 – 244 2845. We would be grateful if you could clearly indicate in your response which sections of the consultation paper you are responding to, using the consultation response pro-forma attached where possible, as this will aid our analysis of the responses received. This consultation, and all other SE consultation exercises, can be viewed online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is. We are seeking views from a range of interested parties including the legal profession, umbrella bodies of legal advice providers in the voluntary sector, other justice system agencies and user representatives. A list of those to whom this consultation paper has been sent is attached as Annex A. The Scottish Executive now has an email alert system for SE consultations (SEconsult). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new SE consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultations activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register. Access to consultation responses We will make all responses available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by 25 February 2005 unless confidentiality is requested. Please complete the attached Respondee Information Form and send it in with your response. All responses not marked confidential will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library or placed on the website. The Executive is seeking views on the specific proposals for the first stage of reform of civil advice and assistance as developed by the Tri-partite Consultation Group. We will therefore share the content of the responses in full with the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Legal Aid Board. Yours sincerely
VALERIE MACNIVEN
ANNEX A Consultees for Reform of Civil Advice and Assistance Advice UK
FootnoteThe Full Report is available at www.scotland.gov.uk/stratreviewlegalaid,. The Summary Report can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/stratreviewlegalaidsumm. Background Information to the Review is available at www.scotland.gov.uk/stratreviewlegalaidbackground < Previous | Contents | Next > |
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