Legal aid is important. Without it, many people wouldn’t be able to get the legal help and advice they need.
This summary tells you about our work in 2005-2006, and the changes and improvements we are making.
The number of legal assistance grants dropped 4% to 411,290. This is the fifth year in a row grants have fallen.
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Spending on legal aid was £147.9 million, 3% less than the year before. This was the first fall in spending for seven years.
Reasons for the fall include fewer cases, less very expensive cases and Efficient Government savings.
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To increase access to justice, we have considered new ideas and services.Working with partners in the advice sector, we developed five new innovative legal advice projects.
We also launched a new Legal Aid Helpline on 0845 122 8686 that gives the public information on legal aid, seven days a week.
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Modernisation of legal aid continued with Scottish Ministers introducing a Scottish Parliament Bill.
The pace of change is increasing, with progress made on further reforms in civil and criminal work.
We have continued to improve how we work. That means cutting bureaucracy, and making changes to improve how legal aid operates.
Our web based Legal Aid Online service is being used more and more by solicitors.
A new computer system has helped speed up the civil legal aid process.