legal aid reform

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Legal Aid Reform

Wide ranging reforms to legal aid and legal advice and information are being considered by policymakers. The Scottish Parliament has now passed a government's Bill on legal aid reforms and other changes.

Latest - The Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 received Royal Assent on 19 January 2007. The legislation is available online on the OPSI website.

Previous debate - Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill - Debate in Parliament

14 December 2006

The Scottish Parliament have agreed the Bill at the third reading of the Bill. You can read details of the debate on the Scottish Parliament's website.

Previous debate

The Scottish Parliament held a debate in the main chamber on Thursday 7 September 2006 about the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill.

the Deputy Minister for Justice announced significant changes to legal aid and advice during a Scottish Parliament debate. Read the Scottish Executive news release outlining the changes
read the Scottish Parliament website's record of the session
read the Board's briefing to MSPs in advance of the Bill and our news release commenting on the Bill
links to other key materials are detailed below, including useful legal aid information

This section of our website provides a summary of useful information relating to the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill, and previous activities including the Scottish Executive consultation and debates in the Scottish Parliament. Read more about:

the Scottish Parliament Justice 2 Committee is the lead committee who are considering the Bill. Read:
- the committee's webpage on the Parliament's website provides up to date information on the Bill's progress and consideration
- the Committee's Stage 1 report on the Bill

Bill introduced - Scottish Ministers introduced the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill in the Scottish Parliament on 2 March 2006. You can read:
- the Scottish Executive's news release
- the Bill and other related information on the Scottish Parliament's website

Advice for All - the Executive consultation including links to the consultation documents, which was published on 17 June 2005. The report analysing the responses was published in March 2006.
Debate in the Scottish Parliament, held on Thursday 23 June - read the official record of the debate
Strategic Review of legal aid, advice and information - this review was published by the Executive in October 2004. It has informed the consultation and includes a wide range of information about how legal aid and advice and information services operate in Scotland, and what changes could be made to improve the system
Previous Scottish Parliament debates and reports - information on previous Chamber debates and the Justice1 Committee's legal aid inquiry
Useful documents about legal aid - this page provides links to some of our key publications including our Corporate Plan, Annual Review, leaflets about legal aid, about PDSO and other research documents

If you have any questions about legal aid, please get in touch with Colin Sim by email or call 0131 240 2033.

"Advice for All: Publicly Funded Legal Assistance in Scotland - The Way Forward"
Scottish Executive consultation published 17 June 2005. Report on consultation now available.

Following the Strategic Review report which looked at advice provision in Scotland, the Scottish Executive issued a consultation, “Advice for All.” The consultation ran from 17 June to 9 September 2005. By the end of the consultation period, 65 responses had been made, and 8 focus group discussions were also undertaken. This included a consultation response from the Board.

The Board is committed to improving and developing legal advice in Scotland that is funded by the taxpayer. These are important public services. Therefore we welcome very much this timely consultation setting out a range of changes that can offer someone seeking help with a legal problem an improved Scotland-wide legal advice service that is accessible, high quality and delivers good value for the taxpayer.

You can read:

the consultation paper on the Scottish Executive's website
the Scottish Executive news release
the Board's news release
Read the Offical Record of a Chamber Debate held in Parliament on 23 June 2005

A report analysing the consultation responses were published by the Scottish Executive in March 2006. You can read more about the publication: Advice For All: Publicly Funded Legal Assistance in Scotland ? The Way Forward: Analysis of Written Consultation Responses on their website.

Strategic Review of legal aid, advice and information

On 29 October 2004 the Scottish Executive published the Strategic Review. You can access:

Summary of the Report: in web page format on the Scottish Executive's website, or in pdf format
Full report - in web page format on the Scottish Executive's website, or in pdf format (note - this is a very large file)
Background to the report - available in pdf format only
You can also read the Scottish Executive's news release on the publication of the report. You can also read the Board's press release on the report, and a joint press release from the Board and Law Society of Scotland.
Also available is archive information published during the Review process
Prioir to this work, the Scottish Executive set up a working group to pilot activity to develop a national framework for legal information and advice. You can read more information about the group and the group's findings "Review of Legal Advice and Information Provision in Scotland" (the ROLIAPS report) published in 2001 on the Government's website.