Part 2: Asylum Chapter 5: Priority removal notices Section 25: Civil legal services for recipients of priority removal notices
Overview: This section amends Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 ("LASPO 2012") to enable recipients of a priority removal notice (PRN) to receive advice and assistance in the form of civil legal services.
	Background: Each paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to LASPO 2012 describes the types of civil legal service that may be made available. Services listed in that Part are known colloquially as "in scope". To obtain legal aid, an applicant must have a determination from the Director of Legal Aid Casework that their issue is in scope by virtue of being listed in Schedule 1, and that they qualify for the services in accordance with the statutory means and merits tests which are set out in section 11 LASPO 2012 and in Regulations made under that Act.
	The intention of this section is to introduce certain types of civil legal service into scope. In particular, by amending Schedule 1 to add the following civil legal services for recipients of a PRN: advice and assistance on, a) the priority removal notice; b) the recipient’s immigration status; c) the lawfulness of their removal from the United Kingdom; and d) immigration detention. The advice provided under c might, for example, include advice on the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) insofar as it was relevant to the lawfulness of the individual’s removal from the UK.
	The aim of the section is to help individuals to understand their immigration status, the meaning of the PRN and to determine their next steps (if any), in raising claims that they may have as to why they should not be removed from the country.
	Subsection 1 amends Part 1 of Schedule 1 by inserting a new paragraph 31ZA which sets out that civil legal services are made available to recipients of a PRN.
	31ZA(1) sets out that advice and assistance can be provided to these individuals on the PRN itself; the individual’s immigration status; the lawfulness of the removal of the individual from the UK; and immigration detention.
	31ZA(2) and (3) provide that these civil legal services are available under this paragraph for up to but no more than 7 hours, and that these civil legal services are available to individuals for each PRN issued to them. The intention of the sub-paragraph is that advice will generally be available for no more than 5 hours, but where certain circumstances demand it, no more than 7 hours will be available.
	31ZA(4) to (5) provide for certain services to be excluded from being provided within the time limit. Those services are: attendance at an interview under the NRM, attendance at an interview as part of an individual’s application in relation to rights to enter and remain in the UK, advocacy (as this advice is for advice and assistance only), and also private law rights or claims for damages. These exclusions reflect that the intention is for advice and assistance to be provided primarily on an individual’s immigration status and potential removal from the country, rather than the exercise of private law rights or anything not directly related to either of those things.
	31ZA(6) provides a definition.
	Subsection 2 amends the Lord Chancellor’s power in section 9 of LASPO 2012 to allow the Lord Chancellor to change the maximum amount of time the civil legal services in subsection 1 may be provided for, and to allow the Lord Chancellor to make an order to show how the time limit could operate in practice, including an order setting out the circumstances where a full 7 hours of advice may be provided.
	Subsection 3 amends the Civil Legal Aid (Merits Criteria) Regulations 2013 to say that these civil legal services provided to recipients of a PRN are available without the application of the merits criteria (to assess the merits of their case).
	Subsection 4 amends the Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) Regulations 2013 to say that these civil legal services provided to recipients of a PRN are available without a determination in respect of an individual’s financial resources.