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Friday, October 24, 2003
”Law Society and Legal Aid Board conference; A six-month review of legal aid provision will be announced at the joint Law Society and Scottish Legal Aid Board Conference in Dunblane today[. . .]The strategic review is aimed at improving efficiency in the delivery of legal aid in all its forms [. . .]Spending on legal aid costs the Scottish public purse up to ?150 million a year - two-thirds of it on criminal legal aid. . .” Scot. Exec. press release
”Justice minister hits out at legal aid provision. Scotland’s Justice Minister is calling for an end to the so-called postcode lottery in the availability of legal aid. . .” Scottish TV
”Move to end legal aid ‘lottery’: The legal aid system is to undergo a six-month review to ensure that access to quality advice is available no matter where someone lives. Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson wants an end to the “postcode lottery” surrounding the legal aid system. . .” BBC
Speech
Modernising Legal Aid, Advice and Information Keynote address by Minister for Justice to joint SLAB/Law Society Conference: October 24, Dunblane
“In Criminal Legal aid, efficiency and effectiveness are great drivers for modernisation. As you may well be aware, it accounts for 70% of the Scottish legal aid budget, nearly ?100 million a year [. . .] We are starting to look at how we can measure the outcomes we achieve for this money [. . .] We cannot ignore the value for money question, because justice, is a public service its funding comes from the public purse and there are competing demands on that purse [. . .] The importance of the principle of criminal legal aid in a mature democratic society is without question [. . .] The real question, the difficult question for all of us is what priority and shape to give to our quest for efficiency. This is the question at the heart of modernising criminal legal aid . . “Research
“The purpose of this research project was to review the existing evidence on six key topic areas related to the provision of legal advice and information. The areas of study were: IT, outreach, referral, quality standards, the role of lawyers and non-lawyers and the use of contracts for legal services in England and Wales. A review of literature and web-based information was undertaken and face-to-face interviews with key informants were used to fill gaps in the existing knowledge base.”
Posted by MM
on Fri 24th Oct 2003
at 1:26 pm
Courts
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