Legal Aid bill returns to Commons

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill has it’s third reading in the House of Lords.  It is expected to return to the House of Commons on 17 April for MPs to consider Lords’ amendments. 

Legal Aid Bill – final stages

Yesterday was the last day in Committee (House of Lords) for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

The Bill will now progress to Report stage (House of Lords) which is  scheduled to start on 5 March 2012.

Challenging the Tier 4 Regime

At the recent meeting organised by Pupil’s Rights, and facilitated by JCWI, we were delighted to have been joined by barrister, Edward Nicholson from No. 5 Chambers. Whilst students spoke about the immigration and other problems they were encountering as a result of revocation of licences of their colleges, Edward spoke about his pending, and very interesting legal challenges on behalf of New London College – these have  implications for the lawfulness of the sponsorship regime.

Legal Aid Bill update

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill is making its way through  the House of Lords. A good summary of the immigration story so far is here.

Yesterday, the Bill was debated for a second time in Committee. Further debates are scheduled to take place on the 16th,18th and 24th of this month. After completion of Committee stage, the Bill should move on to Report and Third reading.

Legal Aid Update – delayed implementation

For anyone who missed it, it seems that subject to Parliamentary approval of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, the Act is due to take effect 6 months later than originally planned.

As such, according to yesterday’s Ministeral statement by Kenneth Clarke   it is intended that it will now come into effect  in April 2013.  The relevant part of the statement reads

Legal Aid Bill in Committee Stage

The Bill aimed at severely restricting Legal Aid provision is worming its way through the Parliamentary process and is now at Committee Stage in the House of Commons.

 The Committee, a mix of 8 Labour, 10 Conservative, 2 Lib Dem with a Plaid MP thrown in for good measure, is responsible for examining every line of the bill and debating its merits. The committee is able to change the wording of the bill, but not its substance.

R (on the application of Cart) & others v SSHD & Upper Tribunal – Case note

R (on the application of Cart) (Appellant) v The Upper Tribunal (Respondent); R (on the application of MR (Pakistan)) (FC) (Appellant) v The Upper Tribunal (Immigration & Asylum Chamber) and Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) [2011] UKSC 28

Public Rally against Legal Aid Cuts

Ittrat Ishfaq,  JCWI’s intern reports on today’s rally against the cuts.

The national protest against legal aid cuts was a compelling rally to attend, running on a national scale in towns and cities across London and Wales, and also in one of the more apt locations, outside the Supreme Court in London.

With a turnout of around 50 people in London and many surrounding spectators, the  rally benefited from over 3000 charities who have

Legal Aid cuts

Guest post by Alison Harvey, General Secretary, Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) http://www.ilpa.org.uk

Responses to the Ministry of Justice consultation on proposed cuts to legal aid have not yet been published. Nor has the Government announced the outcome of the consultation.  The House of Commons Justice Select Committee has held an enquiry into legal aid, taking evidence from Government and others.  It has published its report and all the evidence submitted to it, which provides an insight into the available evidence.   Individual organisations have published the evidence they have submitted to the Government and umbrella organisations such as the ‘Justice for All’ campaign have published overviews of this evidence.

Report on Legal Aid cuts by Justice Committee

Do you trust this man with your legal aid?

The House of Commons Justice Committee issued its report earlier this week.  The report looks at the Government’s proposed reform of legal aid in the UK and we’ve summarised some key points below – for a good comment piece on this, however, see today’s Guardian.

Expenditure on legal aid

The report notes that spending on civil legal aid has fallen by 6% over the last decade, though it has increased by 6% in relation to criminal legal aid [p. 9]. Immigration spending has remained flat, though the nature of legal issues has changed – there are far fewer asylum cases, and a larger volume of immigration cases [p. 12].