Summary Part 1: Legal Aid
17.Part 1 of the Act abolishes the LSC and places a duty on the Lord Chancellor, subject to the provisions of Part 1, to secure the availability of civil and criminal legal aid. The intention is that an executive agency within the Ministry of Justice will administer the delivery of legal aid services in England and Wales. However, in relation to decision-making in individual cases, the Act requires the Lord Chancellor to designate a civil servant to be the Director of Legal Aid Casework (“the Director”). The Director will have statutory responsibility for taking decisions on legal aid in individual cases. The Act prevents the Lord Chancellor from giving directions or guidance to the Director in relation to individual cases.
18.Provisions in Part 1 ensure that, together with the powers the Lord Chancellor has as a Minister of the Crown, the Lord Chancellor has power to enter into appropriate arrangements with others for them to provide legal aid. The Lord Chancellor will have power to set quality standards for those providing legal aid services and to make arrangements for accreditation and monitoring of such providers. (the LSC currently have accreditation schemes such as the Specialist Quality Mark, responsibility for which will fall to the Lord Chancellor once the LSC is abolished). The Lord Chancellor will have power to make provision in regulations about the payment of remuneration to those providing legal aid services.