Interesting news - The Legal Services Commission (successor to the Legal Aid Board) is being abolished and its functions brought within the Ministry of Justice - announcement here.
Is this good news or bad news?
I also wonder whether the Lord Chancellor can find parliamentary time for this before the election?
The government believes that this is the best option for the delivery of legal aid and has announced that a Bill will be brought forward as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
“It must have consequences”
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Our very grateful thanks to our Wales contributor, Mike Norman of Harrow
Law Centre, for the following excellent post on Coastal Housing Group Ltd v
Mitc...
4 days ago
Moves like this should, in my opinion, make everyone nervous. I doubt that it will be for the better of the public because it looks like the only "driver" is saving of money. The criminal courts will be seeing more and more unrepresented people; miscarriages of justice will result and hearing lengths will probably increase. I also note that the LSC's Chief Executive resigned. "Shoved" or "fell"?
ReplyDeleteFurther to my earlier post. I note that the Bar Council has welcomed the decision to create an "Executive Agency." The Bar Council website refers to the Magee Report as being "thoughtful and well argued". Magee pointed to a lack of clarity about who is "calling the shots over policy". Now, I wonder who is responsible for that state of affairs? We can be certain that it will not turn out to be the Rt. Hon. Jack Straw.
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