Clause 1 - Extent of duty to fund advice and assistance
Criminal Defence Service (Advice and Assistance) Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Mr David Lock (Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department; Wyre Forest, Labour)
I welcome you, Mr. Sayeed, to our brief deliberations. I look forward to serving under your chairmanship for the first time—with the exception of the Programming Sub-Committee this morning.
The Criminal Defence Service (Advice and Assistance) Bill [Lords] clarifies the extent of the Legal Services Commission's duty to fund legal assistance as part of the new criminal defence service under section 13 of the Access to Justice Act 1999. The criminal defence service will come into being on 2 April 2001.
There is some doubt whether the interaction of sections 13 and 14 of the Access to Justice Act allows for the limited form of representation known as advocacy assistance—more commonly known as ABWOR, or the assistance by way of representation scheme. There is also doubt about whether section 13 allows the funding of advice and assistance for people who are, may be or have been involved in quasi-criminal proceedings. Clause 1 seeks to remedy both of those apparent deficiencies.
First, the amendment that the Bill makes to section 13 of the Access to Justice Act makes it clear that the assistance that the Legal Services Commission is allowed to fund under section 13 includes advocacy. Under current arrangements, the court duty solicitor scheme is provided for by the ABWOR scheme. If an individual is arrested, remanded in custody and brought to a magistrates court before he has an opportunity to apply for a full representation order, formerly known as criminal legal aid, the scheme provides that he may use the services of the court duty solicitor or a solicitor of choice to represent him at the early hearings. Without that vital scheme, vulnerable individuals might not be properly represented, and the criminal justice system as a whole could be subject to delay and possible injustice.
Secondly, section 13 of the Access to Justice Act refers only to investigations. The Bill therefore makes it clear that advice and assistance are available to those involved in criminal proceedings, rather than only to those involved in criminal investigations in prescribed circumstances. That allows advice and assistance to be extended—for example, to cover proceedings for anti-social behaviour orders and civil proceedings in magistrates courts arising from the failure to pay a debt if such failure carries the risk of imprisonment. Those proceedings will be defined as criminal proceedings for the purpose of providing legal help under the criminal defence service.
After the Bill was published, the Government introduced three amendments on Report in the House of Lords. Taken together, they allow the Bill, on enactment, to have retrospective effect. Amendment No. 1 provides that the 1999 Act will be read as though the Bill has always amended it. Amendment No. 2 provides that secondary legislation made under the powers in section 13(1) of the 1999 Act may also have retrospective effect, and amendment No. 3 changes the commencement date of the Bill. There is no longer any need for the Bill to commence on 2 April, so it will commence on the day on which it receives Royal Assent.
I am sure that hon. Members will agree that the Bill, although small, is important, and I hope that it will receive a speedy passage through the Committee. The defects that we seek to remedy through the Bill were not in the Government's original draft of the Bill that became the 1999 Act. During its passage, we listened to amendments and concerns raised on both sides of the House. As a result, amendments were made to what are now sections 13 and 14 of the Act. The Bill corrects an unintended consequence that was a result of our response to genuine concerns. So far as we can determine, the defects were not spotted by the Government or the Opposition during the passage of the Bill that became the 1999 Act.
I am grateful to the hon. and learned Member for Harborough (Mr. Garnier) for his support for the Bill and the principle of maintaining the duty solicitor scheme. I commend the clause to the Committee.