The government has been defeated in six key votes during the
first two days of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of
Offenders (LASPO) Bill's report stage, and has been forced into
offering concessions in several other important areas.
During the first day of debate on Monday 5 March, peers voted
three times against the government. First, to insist that the
legislation state that people 'must have access to legal services
that effectively meet their needs'; second, to insert amendments
intended to protect victims of domestic violence by, among other
things, setting out a comprehensive list of eligibility criteria
for obtaining legal aid on the face of the bill; and finally,
inserting a sub-clause ensuring the independence of the new post of
director of legal aid casework from political interference.
Three further defeats were inflicted on Wednesday with peers
voting to retain legal aid for welfare benefits appeals, with
respect to both reviews and lower tribunal appeals and also with
respect to appeals to the higher courts. In the third defeat peers
voted to retain legal aid for the cost of obtaining medical reports
in clinical negligence cases.
The defeats come on top of several government concessions - in
the face of widespread cross-party criticism during earlier stages
of deliberation - on clinical negligence for severely injured
children, the bill's definition of domestic violence, the
power to means-test police station advice, the retained power only
to omit further services from legal aid in the future, on domestic
child abduction and for victims of human trafficking.
There are also promising signs of movement from the government
on providing legal aid for appellants in cases which are certified
as complex or are of substantial public interest.
The report stage is scheduled to continue for a further two
weeks, with several more government defeats expected.
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