Legal aid reform - human rights may be breached by lack of access to justice
Legal aid reform - human rights may be breached by lack of access to justice
Government committee expresses concerns that exceptional cases funding will be inadequate and breaches of the Convention of human rights may result, following proposed cuts to legal aid.
03/01/2012
The Government’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (LCHR) raised its concerns in a recently published report on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.
The committee ‘regrets’ that the Government did not provide Parliament with a full human rights memorandum which includes ‘detailed analysis of the Bill’s compatibility with the UK’s obligations under relevant international human rights treaties’.
The Chair of the committee, Dr Hywel Fancis MP, said, ‘Legal Aid is a vital safeguard of people’s right to access justice. We are concerned that certain aspects of the Bill will undermine that right’.
The joint committee recommends that a system for appeal is put in place due to the lack of independence of the proposed Director of Legal Aid Case work.
The full report is available at: www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/human-rights-committee/
