LEGAL AID, ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1979 (Hansard, 15 November 1979)

§ Lord ELTON
My Lords, I beg to move that the Legal Aid, Advice and 1428 Assistance (Northern Ireland) Order 1979 be approved. The object of this draft order is to make improvements to the Northern Ireland Legal Aid Scheme similar to those recently enacted for the rest of the United Kingdom by the Legal Aid Act 1979. The changes concern legal aid in civil proceedings and are similar to those contained in the 1979 Act. As that Act was considered by this House in February of this year, I will confine my remarks to the main provisions of the order.
The first major change is contained in Article 3 of the order, which would reduce the maximum contribution which may be required to be paid to the Legal Aid Fund by a legally aided person. At present a maximum contribution equivalent to one-third of the excess of a person's disposable income over £1,700 a year is required. This order would reduce the maximum contribution fraction from one-third to one-quarter. This should enable more people to avail themselves of legal aid. And I should perhaps mention here that, as some of your Lordships may have noticed, the maximum sum of £1,700 differs from that which appears in Section 4 of the 1979 Act, as it has just been increased from £1,500 by regulations which took effect from 12th November this year.
The Secretary of State would, by virtue of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954, have power to fix by regulations different maximum contributions for different cases or classes of case. The exercise of this power would, we hope, help reduce the unnecessary collection of contributions in certain cases. For example, when an applicant has succeeded with his case, the contribution paid by him to the Legal Aid Fund is often returned. This occurs more frequently in certain types of case, such as personal injury proceedings. It is wasteful to collect substantial sums by way of contributions in such cases only to return them at a later date.
The second major change concerns representation in court. At present representation by solicitors or barristers can normally only be obtained under a legal aid certificate issued after an assessment of the applicant's means by the Supplementary Benefits Commission and consideration of the merits of the case by the Incorporated Law Society of Northern 1429 Ireland. These time-consuming processes are justified in the case of proceedings which may cost large sums, but are less so in smaller cases, particularly where the contribution required may be minimal or represent only a fraction of the total cost. In fact, in very many cases, particularly those involving separation and maintenance, no contribution at all is required.
Article 5 of the order would therefore enable the Secretary of State to extend by regulations the much simpler administrative procedure of the legal advice and assistance scheme to include representation in court in particular cases, or classes of case. The first use of this power would be to allow representation under the legal advice and assistance scheme in matrimonial proceedings before Magistrates' Courts.
Article 6 would enable the Secretary of State to prescribe the maximum contributions payable by those receiving advice or assistance in the same way as Article 3 does for legal aid. This power would be used for example, to adjust the cost limits of representation in different types of proceedings.
There are also a number of minor or consequential amendments in Article 7. One of these relates to the penalties for breach of the secrecy provision and for misrepresentation, and increases them from £100 to £500. Also included is a technical extension of the terms of reference of the Legal Aid Advisory Committee. We have also taken this opportunity to make some minor amendments and repeals to facilitate a consolidation of Northern Ireland legal aid soon to be undertaken.
I am sure your Lordships will welcome this extension to Northern Ireland of the improvement in the provisions of legal aid that were enacted for the rest of the United Kingdom earlier this year by the Legal Aid Act, and which could make legal aid, advice and assistance more readily available to the public. I beg to move.

§ Lord BLEASE
My Lords, I must express gratefulness to the noble Lord for the clear and concise way he has explained 1430 the order which is before this House. In so far as the measures provide for the parity principle and bring legislation in Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom, the order has support from this side of the House. However, there is one point in the order which I should be grateful if the noble Lord could clarify. It is Article 5. As I understand it, Article 5 amends the principal Act, the Legal Aid and Advice Act (Northern Ireland) 1965, to provide for legal representation for tribunals and statutory inquiries for eligible persons. The Minister has already indicated one area immediately brought under this provision, that is, matrimonial proceedings in magistrates' courts. It would be important if the Minister could indicate when the larger extent of the provisions will be effectively available or if there could be a list of the various tribunals and statutory inquiries that may come under the ambit of these provisions. It leads to confusion if a person considers that representation before a tribunal is available and then finds that some tribunals have been omitted from a particular list.
There is a further point to which I should like to draw the Minister's attention. It arises from the principal Act to which this order refers. I have been told by community workers, trade union representatives, solicitors and lawyers that, to persons who are directly involved in using and operating this Act, its provisions have become incomprehensible, and that while they welcome this order, it will add to the complexity. Therefore, may I ask the Minister whether he could give urgent attention to making readily available a revised handbook dealing specifically with the measures and provisions for legal aid, advice and assistance as now consolidated in the two main proposals? I am pleased to support the measure before the House.

§ Lord ELTON
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Blease, for his welcome to this order and the endorsement of the principle of parity. I am also grateful to him for the notice that he was kind enough to give me of the questions that he proposed to ask on this rather technical matter. That is something which must be taken into account.
Of course, there is another matter which has to be taken into account and which 1431 will have become much more apparent in this House since the repetition of the Statement made by my right honourable friend the Chacellor of the Exchequer in another place: that is, the problem of finding the necessary finance to cover the extension of the advice and assistance service to include representation before tribunals. The matter will therefore require further study in the light of the comments of the Royal Commission on Legal Services on this subject. I am afraid I must ask the noble Lord to be contented with that reply on this matter.
The noble Lord also asked, with understandable passion, whether there could be some handbook or guidebook available not only to those who are users of the provisions but also to the practitioners who assist them. I agree with the noble Lord that the numerous amendments to the Legal Aid Act since its enactment in 1965 make it desirable that the legislation should be consolidated. I am pleased to say that work on the consolidation is in hand but at present there is not a legal aid handbook available. It might be less necessary when the consolidation is completed. I appreciate the point that a handbook would be useful, particularly for practitioners in Northern Ireland; and, although from the production point of view it is a small market and it would be difficult to make such an exercise cost-effective compared with the larger number in Great Britain, I will none the less ensure that the matter is brought to the attention of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State in what I might call "approving terms".