§ Lord Windleshamasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they propose to abolish green form assistance in legally aided cases, as recommended in the report of the Review of Delay in the Criminal Justice System, 1997. [HL250]
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg)I have no current plans to abolish green forms assistance in legally aided criminal cases.
The Access to Justice Act 1999 has created provision for contracting, under which most publicly funded criminal defence services will be provided by lawyers in private practice under contracts.
Contracts with solicitors firms will cover the full range of criminal defence services including advice and assistance. Our intention is to contract for all criminal advice and assistance work from October 2000. The structure of these contracts will be informed b) the pilot currently being carried out by the Legal Aid Board.