Justice 2 Committee, 27 Feb 2007
Meeting date: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Official Report
159KB pdf
Subordinate Legislation
Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003<br />(Rural Housing Bodies) Amendment Order 2007 (SSI 2007/58)
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome everyone to the sixth meeting in 2007 of the Justice 2 Committee and remind you to switch off mobile phones and pagers, if you have not already done so. We have received no apologies, and I welcome Bill Aitken to the meeting.
Agenda item 1 is consideration of the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 (Rural Housing Bodies) Amendment Order 2007, which is subject to the negative procedure. The Subordinate Legislation Committee has advised that no points arise on the order. Are members content with it?
Members indicated agreement.
Sexual Offences Act 2003<br />(Prescribed Police Stations) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007<br />(SSI 2007/72)
The Subordinate Legislation Committee has advised that no points arise on the regulations, which are also subject to the negative procedure. If members have no questions, are we content with the amendment regulations?
Members indicated agreement.
Advice and Assistance (Financial Limit) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 (draft)<br />Advice and Assistance<br />(Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (draft)
Civil Legal Aid (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (draft)
I welcome to the meeting the Deputy Minister for Justice and her team for consideration of three sets of draft regulations that are subject to the affirmative procedure. The Subordinate Legislation Committee has advised that no points arise on any of the sets of draft regulations.
Minister, I gather that you want to make an opening statement. Am I also right in thinking that you want to link the three sets of draft regulations together?
Yes—if that is okay.
I am delighted to be giving evidence to the committee once more. There are five sets of regulations that will give effect to a number of reforms to civil advice and assistance and which will enable annual uprating of financial limits for eligibility for legal aid. The overall package consists of two sets of regulations that are subject to the negative procedure and three sets that are subject to the affirmative procedure. We are debating the latter group this afternoon. The provisions that relate to civil advice and assistance reforms will commence on 1 May 2007, while those that relate to uprating financial eligibility will come into effect on 9 April 2007.
The Advice and Assistance (Financial Limit) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 will amend the Advice and Assistance (Financial Limit) (Scotland) Regulations 1993 (SI 1993/3187) by amending the financial limits for all categories of advice and assistance, with the exception of criminal cases. The financial limits are set out in section 10(2) of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 and solicitors are required to seek prior approval of the Scottish Legal Aid Board before they provide advice and assistance beyond those limits. The regulations will also introduce a new financial limit of £35 for some civil cases.
The Advice and Assistance (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 will uprate the financial eligibility limits for advice and assistance, which are increased annually in line with contributory benefits. The Department for Work and Pensions announced on 7 December that contributory benefits will rise by the retail prices index increase of 3.6 per cent. We therefore propose to increase accordingly the income limits and contributory bands for advice and assistance. We propose to increase the capital limit for advice and assistance on the same basis.
The Advice and Assistance (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 also prescribe the scale of contributions to be paid by persons receiving advice and assistance for matters that are not "distinct matters". Our approach is connected with the amendment of the application process for civil advice and assistance to remove arrangements whereby solicitors can be paid more than one minimum fee in relation to closely linked aspects of a case. In some cases, advice and assistance will be given through a diagnostic interview, which will be a stage in the application process. The introduction of the diagnostic interview will allow a solicitor to determine whether the subject matter is in a distinct category—as agreed with the Law Society of Scotland and appearing on a list issued by SLAB—in which case it will be passported into the advice and assistance scheme. The new scheme will also allow SLAB, when an application is made to it, to treat a matter that is not on the list as if it were.
The Civil Legal Aid (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 will uprate limits for civil legal aid. Increases are linked to increases in the level of income-related benefits, which are ordinarily uprated by the Rossi index increase, which is based on RPI less housing costs. The DWP announced on 7 December that the Rossi index increase this year is expected to be 3 per cent. That has not yet been confirmed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, due to the DWP's administrative arrangements. Confirmation of the rate is not expected before dissolution of the Scottish Parliament, but we are advised by the DWP that it is not expected that the rate will change. We therefore propose to increase accordingly the income limits for civil legal aid. We also propose to increase the lower and upper disposable capital limits for civil legal aid.
The changes that we propose will ensure that eligibility criteria are kept up to date and that no one falls through the legal aid net because of the effects of inflation. If we did not introduce new rates we would unnecessarily penalise people who are on the fringes of eligibility. If the finalised figures are different, consideration can be given later in the year to making regulations that would make the necessary adjustments.
If members have no questions for the minister on the regulations, I invite her formally to move motions S2M-5619, S2M-5620 and S2M-5622.
Motions moved,
That the Justice 2 Committee recommends that the draft Advice and Assistance (Financial Limit) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 be approved.
That the Justice 2 Committee recommends that the draft Advice and Assistance (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 be approved.
That the Justice 2 Committee recommends that the draft Civil Legal Aid (Financial Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 be approved.—[Johann Lamont.]
Motions agreed to.