LEGAL AID ADVISORY COMMITTEE (Hansard, 20 July 1994)

§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Mackay of Clashfern)

The Legal Aid Advisory Committee was set up in 1949. Its purpose then was to comment on the way in which the Law Society administered the legal aid scheme and to give the Lord Chancellor advice and recommendations about legal aid. The committee has done much valuable work over many years and I am grateful to all its past and present members for the work they have done.

The establishment of the Legal Aid Board in 1989 meant that a significant element of the committee's role no longer existed. The committee was however kept in being in order to establish whether there was a continuing useful role for it to play.

I have recently reviewed the position in the light of experience since 1989 and have concluded that the changing circumstances since the Legal Aid Board was established have meant that there is no longer a need for a separate Legal Aid Advisory Committee.

I have always welcomed advice from any quarter on the operation of the legal aid scheme, and will continue to do so. Unlike the position when the Legal Aid advisory Committee was established, there are now many bodies and organisations which are interested in, and regularly comment on, developments in legal aid. I am satisfied that the advice that I receive from them, together with the independent advice, based on their experience of running the legal aid scheme, that I receive from the Legal Aid Board, and the involvement in legal aid matters of the Home Affairs Select Committee, give me access to the widest possible range of views and opinions. We also intend to develop our programme of research into legal aid matters.

I am therefore laying before both Houses of Parliament an order providing for the dissolution of the Legal Aid Advisory Committee.