HC Deb 18 January 1949 vol 460 cc124-5

Resolution reported: That, for the purposes of any Act of the present Session to make legal aid and advice in Scotland more readily available for persons of small or moderate means, and to enable the cost of legal aid or advice for such persons to be defrayed wholly or partly out of moneys provided by Parliament; to establish a Law Society of Scotland; and for purposes connected therewith, it is expedient to authorise—

  1. A. The payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of the net sums required to meet payments out of any fund set up under the Act in connection with the provision of legal aid and legal advice if (subject to any discretion of the Secretary of State to modify the Act by regulations thereunder to meet special cases)—
    1. (a) legal aid under the Act—
      1. (i) is not made available (except in the preliminary stages in criminal proceedings) for persons whose disposable income as determined under the Act exceeds four hundred and twenty pounds a year; and
      2. (ii) may be refused (except as aforesaid) to a person if he has a disposable capital as so determined of more than five hundred pounds and it appears he can afford to proceed without legal aid: and
    2. (b) a person given legal aid under the Act may be required to contribute to the fund up to a maximum equal to one-half the amount by which his disposable income as so determined exceeds one hundred and fifty-six pounds a year together with the full amount by which his disposable capital as so determined exceeds seventy-five 125 pounds (subject, however, to repayment of any excess of the contribution over the net liability of the fund on his account);
  2. B. The payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any increase in the expenses of the National Assistance Board attributable to any provision of the Act relating to the determination of a person's disposable income or capital or to a person's contribution to any such fund as aforesaid."—[Mr. Woodburn.]