Feb 04 2010
Physician, heal thyself
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has published its report on the procurement of Legal Aid in England and Wales by the Legal Services Commission. It does not make for pleasant reading if you are a senior official in the LSC. You may be expecting me to launch into a diatribe about the fate of criminal barristers; the Report expresses the concern of the PAC that the long term future of the junior criminal bar is under threat. I am very worried about the future of the criminal bar, but there are some more fundamental problems with the LSC itself.
A brief recital of some facts and figures gives immediate cause for concern. 2.1 billion pounds is spent by the LSC on civil and criminal legal aid. A further 125 million pounds is spent on administration. The Ministry of Justice spends more than 2 million pounds per year on legal aid policy matters and overseeing the LSC. The LSC’s accounts for 2008-09 were qualified because of an estimated overpayment by the LSC to solicitors of 25m. In short, this is an organisation that has weak internal controls and is not on top of its financial management. Whilst the LSC has been working to a budget at the level reached in 2006, there are inadequate means of checking the ways in which the money is being spent.
The much vaunted Very High Cost Case system, introduced in 2001 and involving a plethora of civil servants ”managing” cases and authorising work done by barristers and solicitors, remains a mystery when it comes to value for money. The LSC have no idea whether this bureaucratic and often Kafkaesque system is better value than paying a graduated fee for a particular case.
There is also confusion between the Ministry of Justice and the LSC that is leading to duplication of work, notes the committee. I was particularly concerned to read about the 1.5 million pound cost of changes to senior management in the LSC. The LSC has now abandoned the lamentable Best Value Tendering Scheme. It knows that further savings will have to be made but does not know where these could come from. My advice to them is: Physician, heal thyself.
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