Legal Aid Inquiry

The House of Commons Select Committee on Constitutional Affairs is about to embark upon a series of evidence sessions designed to establish how far the Government has met the concerns that were expressed during the consultation on the Carter review of legal aid. The first oral evidence session will take place on 17 January 2007, the witnesses being Lord Carter of Coles, the Legal Services Commission, the Law Society and the Bar Council. The Government reiterated on 11 January 2007 that a care proceedings graduated fee scheme will begin in October 2007, following a further consultation. In a House of Commons debate on 11 January, legal aid Minister Vera Baird said that in family and civil law, there were no cuts to be made to those budgets. In 2007 civil and family legal aid expenditure would be more than 20 per cent higher than it was two years ago. For the full news story see February [2007] Fam Law.