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Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2010-11: ministerial statement
Practical Law UK Legal Update 9-515-2140 (Approx. 3 pages)
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2010-11: ministerial statement
by PLC Dispute Resolution
| Published on 06 Dec 2011 • England, Wales |
On 1 December 2011, The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Kenneth Clarke, made a written ministerial statement, outlining plans to defer the implementation of certain of the legal aid reforms in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2010-11, currently being debated by Parliament. (Free access).
On 1 December 2011, the government published a ministerial statement on proposals for reform of the criminal legal aid regime (see Hansard, House of Commons written ministerial statement, 1 December 2011, at column 74WS).
The statement outlines the timetable for reform of the current arrangements for administratively set remuneration rates for criminal legal aid work, moving to a system of competitive tendering.
The ministerial statement adds that, subject to parliamentary approval of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2010-11, the government plans to implement its legal aid reforms in April 2013. It fails to explicitly flag up the fact that this is six months later than the original target date of October 2012.
The costs reforms recommended by Jackson LJ (in his final report following his civil litigation costs review) are being introduced partly through statutory changes and partly though amendments to the CPR. The statutory changes (including those abolishing recoverability of after the event insurance premiums and conditional fee agreement success fees) are being implemented with the legal aid reforms, as part of the Bill. The ministerial statement does not make it clear whether the delay in implementing the legal aid reforms might impact on the time frame for implementing the costs reforms (expected to be October 2012). The Law Society Gazette has said that it understands that the Jackson reforms "will not necessarily be delayed until April 2013" in the light of the ministerial statement (see Law Society Gazette: Ken Clarke postpones legal aid reforms and tendering (1 December 2011)).
We asked the Ministry of Justice for clarification, and it provided the following statement:
"Currently, as things stand, no change to the timetable for implementation of the Jackson costs reforms is anticipated, although it is recognised that the timetable is extremely challenging."
There is no doubt that the time frame is ambitious, not least as Jackson LJ has emphasised the need for a "big bang" approach, implementing all of the costs reforms together, to achieve the necessary culture change. We are monitoring the position and will report on key developments. Our "Jackson tracker" will be kept updated to reflect the latest available information (see Article, Implementation of Jackson LJ's recommendations: when will they take effect?).
Interestingly, in a recent speech, Jackson LJ made the following comment on the potential timing of implementation of his costs reforms:
"Some recommendations in the Civil Litigation Costs Review Final Report ("FR") require primary legislation. The necessary Bill is now before Parliament. If approved by Parliament, it may come into force in October 2012 or perhaps somewhat later. Other recommendations in the FR require rule changes, rather than primary legislation. It is intended that these rule changes will come into force on the same date as the Act. The rule amendments are currently being drafted, then presented to the Rule Committee for approval and then held in escrow until the "big bang" date." (Emphasis added.) (Jackson LJ: Controlling The Costs of Disclosure: Seventh Lecture in the implementation programme (24 November 2011).)