Government
concession on police station advice “far from
enough”
The Law Society has
welcomed the Government's decision to scrap plans to introduce
means-testing for initial legal advice and assistance at police
stations, but the Society has said the Legal Aid, Sentencing and
Punishing of Offenders Bill as a whole remains in
disarray.
The Society, which had
been calling for the means-testing for initial legal advice at
police stations to be scrapped since the Bill was introduced in
June 2011, has said that the Bill remains un-costed and unjust and
that the Government must do more to uphold the fundamental
principle of access to justice, which is under threat from parts of
the legislation.
The concession was
announced by the Government yesterday (Tuesday 24 January 2012) as
the Bill was debated by Peers during its committee stage in the
House of Lords.
Law Society chief
executive Desmond Hudson said: “We acknowledge that the
Government has finally realised means-testing for initial legal
advice at police stations was not going to work. The question has
to be asked why, with so much opposition to the move outside and
within the Government, this did not happen
sooner?
“While this a
positive step, it is far from enough. There remain deeply
contentious measures in the Bill - such as the outrageous
fiddling with the definition of domestic violence so as to deny
more vulnerable individuals access to legal
advice.
“The Government
needs to do more to make the Bill compatible with what is a given
tenet of any civilised society - access to justice for
all.”
The Law Society is
continuing to press for further changes to the Bill as it goes
through Parliament.
Ends
Contact: Steve Rudaini,
The Law Society
+44 (0)20 7316
5624