§ 7.23 p.m.
§ The LORD CHANCELLOR (Lord Elwyn-Jones) rose to move, That the regulations laid before the House on 21st February, be approved. The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords. I beg to move the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper. There are in fact two relevant Motions which it may be convenient for us to discuss together. The two that I shall immediately be dealing with relate to England and Wales, and there are two corresponding Motions relating to Scotland. The first in order on the Order Paper is the Legal Aid and Assistance (Financial Conditions) Regulations 1979. All four regulations are, in effect, part of the package of improvements in the financial conditions for civil legal aid and advice and assistance generally, which I promised last year and about which I gave details in the House on 8th February when I moved the Second Reading of the Legal Aid Bill.
§ I am particularly pleased to be able to move these regulations, as when I announced what was considered at the time to be a somewhat controversial measure, namely, the restriction of legal aid for undefended divorce proceedings following the introduction of the new divorce procedure, I said that I hoped to be able to bring forward measures to improve the availability of legal services as soon as resources allowed. At last I am able to do so.
§ The Legal Aid (Financial Conditions) Regulations increase the lower disposable income limit, that is the limit above which one ceases to be eligible for free legal aid, from a disposable income of £815 to a disposable income of £1,500. The term "disposable" means the income which is left after deductions have been made for tax, rent or mortgage, other necessary expenses such as travelling to work and allowances for dependants. The 964 regulations also increase the upper income limit, above which one ceases to be eligible for legal aid, from a disposable income of £2,600 to £3,600. The lower capital limit, which is the nest-egg one is entitled to have without having to make a contribution, is increased from £365 to £1,200 and the upper limit, above which one will not normally be entitled to legal aid, from £1,700 to £2,500.
§ The Legal Advice and Assistance (Financial Conditions) (No.2) Regulations relate to the green form scheme. They increase the eligibility limits for legal advice and assistance from a disposable income of £52 a week to £75 a week and from a disposable capital of £365 to £600. Other regulations which have been laid, but do not require the approval of the House, increase the lower free disposable income limit from £25 to £35 a week and make consequential amendments to the scale of contributions.
§ I mentioned that in assessing a person's disposable income allowances are made for dependants, which for this purpose includes a spouse. These allowances are currently aligned to supplementary benefit rates, but a further two sets of regulations which have already been laid, but do not require approval of the House, will increase those allowances for both legal aid and legal advice and assistance so that they will be 50 per cent. above the appropriate supplementary benefit rates for the particular dependant. This improved allowance will help parents with children considerably. Indeed, the whole package of improvements which I am introducing in the legal aid field will, above all, help families with limited resources.
§ The opportunity has been taken to simplify the regulations relating to the assessment of resources by incorporating some allowances in the scale and adjusting others. That simplification should remove the necessity for interviews at legal aid assessment offices in a large number of cases and will be a convenience to all concerned.
§ Although it is difficult to make accurate estimates about the proportion of the population eligible for legal aid, because the limits relate to disposable income, which of course varies according to a person's commitments and family, it is clear that far fewer people are now within the scope of the scheme than when it was 965 first introduced in 1950. The increases which are made by these regulations and the others to which I have referred will recover that lost ground, so that over 70 per cent. of the population will be eligible for legal aid and over 30 per cent. of households consisting of two parents and two children will not be required to pay any contribution. With regard to the question of contributions towards the cost of civil legal aid, as the House will know, a Bill which is at present before another place will enable me to reduce the maximum percentage contribution payable by those persons whose disposable income is above the free limit. These regulations, together with the others to which I have referred and the Legal Aid Bill will be the most significant improvement in the legal aid scheme for nearly 20 years. My Lords, beg to move.
§ Moved, That the regulations laid before the House on 21st February be approved.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ 7.30 p.m.
Viscount COLVILLE of CULROSSMy Lords, I think it would be to the convenience of the House if we discussed all these four sets of regulations together. It does not look to me as though many noble Lords with a legal background are here this evening to make much complaint about them; certainly I am not. It would he presumptuous of me to say that there would be a great deal that could be added to what the noble and learned Lord has just said, bearing in mind that we debated this whole subject on the Second Reading of the Legal Aid Bill at the beginning of February. On that occasion he brought out from the cover of the Brown Paper for the first time the contents of this bit of his package, and, although it was sprung upon some of us for the first time, I do not think there was any adverse comment on that occasion, and so far as I am aware there has not been any since.
As it seems to me, the true measure of this is that we are restoring the provision of legal aid to those people who were originally intended by Parliament to have it, because in the original legislation all these financial limits were laid down in the Act itself. It is only since then that bit by bit—and this was a process that was finalised in the Legal Aid Bill now in another place—Parliament has been able to deal with the matter by way of regula- 966 tions to alter, as inflation takes place, the various financial provisions. Of course, inflation, has overtaken this scheme to a very large extent, and the noble and learned Lord is really simply saying that so far as these particular regulations are concerned he is restoring the scheme to what Parliament judged was right in 1949.
There are other measures, which we also welcome, which simplify the procedure, which are not subject to the Motion today. Again, we discussed those at the beginning of February, and those I also welcomed then, as I do now. I should have thought that these regulations should come into effect as soon as is possible which is at the beginning of next month, I do not wish to add anything else, except that I think it would be churlish if I did not thank the noble and learned Lord for having achieved this at a time when there is considerable financial stringency, so bringing this matter back to the balance that was originally thought right.
§ Lord AVEBURYMy Lords, I too would like to add the thanks of my noble friends to those expressed by the noble Viscount to the noble and learned Lord for having achieved this step during, as he says, a period of very severe financial stringency; it is something of a triumph and one which is very welcome indeed to us on these Benches. It is a matter on which my noble friend Lord Wigoder has expressed himself on several different occasions. I imagine that no one thought in 1950, when legal aid came into being, that inflation would erode it as rapidly as it has, and that the proportion of the population who would be eligible would decline so steeply. Although, as the noble and learned Lord has said, it is very difficult to estimate the exact proportion of the population who are eligible, because of the problem of evaluating the disposable income, one estimate I saw was that something like 80 per cent. of the people were eligible in 1950 and that that had fallen, before these changes, to a figure in the region of 25 per cent. As the noble and learned Lord has said, we are now restoring the position to what it was at the beginning of the scheme. So I too hope that this will come into effect as soon as possible so that the people concerned may have the benefit of it, and legal aid will then be available to those Parliament first intended it should be given to in 1950.
§ The LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I am most grateful to both noble Lords for the support they have given to these regulations. They remedy what was becoming a serious matter of public and, indeed, private concern. I share their wish that the regulations will now make a speedy passage through this House and another place.
I do not know whether I sufficiently indicated that the Scottish regulations provide similar improvements for Scotland, as do the regulations which are headed, I notice, for England, but also include Wales. On this rare occasion England embraces Wales and is not defeated by it, if I may be permitted a most improper passing reference to recent events. I beg to move the first Motion.