Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Official Report 642KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 [Draft]

Good morning, and welcome to the 32nd meeting in 2022 of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. Apologies have been received from Rachael Hamilton.

Our first agenda item is consideration of an affirmative instrument. I welcome to the meeting the Minister for Community Safety, Elena Whitham MSP, and her officials. Kieran Burke is from the access to justice branch of the Scottish Government, and Emma Thomson is a solicitor in the Scottish Government legal directorate.

I refer members to paper 1 and invite the minister to speak about the draft regulations.

Thank you, convener, and good morning to you and fellow members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee about the draft Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023.

The regulations have been introduced to deliver changes to legal aid regulations, and primarily to ensure continuing access to justice for vulnerable people in our society. My first point is that they will do that by supporting the response to the cost of living crisis through enabling the Scottish Legal Aid Board to disregard for means assessment additional state benefit payments that have been made in recognition of the increased economic hardship that is currently being suffered by households that are reliant on social security support. If the regulations are not approved, the Scottish Legal Aid Board will be unable to disregard such payments across all aid types. That will mean that, for example, additional money that is paid to recipients of disability benefits could form part of an assessment, should publicly funded legal assistance be sought.

Secondly, the regulations will enable the Scottish Legal Aid Board to disregard for means assessments compensatory awards made by the state arising from a person receiving contaminated blood or blood products from the national health service prior to September 1991. Again, those payments by the state, which recognise a wrong against a person, can be disregarded for all types of legal aid only if the regulations are approved.

Finally, the regulations will also extend the provision of a type of legal aid that is known as assistance by way of representation—ABWOR—so that it may be available to siblings of a child who is subject to children’s hearings proceedings and who either have or are seeking rights to participate in those proceedings. Under the current legislation, ABWOR provision is available only to a child who is subject to the proceedings, relevant persons or a person seeking to be deemed a relevant person in relation to that child.

The availability of ABWOR to siblings will not be means tested and subject to an effective participation test that is approved by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. That recognises that, although the role of siblings in the children’s hearings system is important, it is limited, and other procedural safeguards are in place that can facilitate regard being had to their views.

That is a brief overview of the regulations and their context. I am happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much, minister.

There are no questions or comments, so we will move straight on to agenda item 2. I invite the minister to move motion S6M-06777.

Motion moved,

That the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee recommends that the Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 be approved.—[Elena Whitham.]

Motion agreed to.

I invite the committee to agree to delegate to me the publication of a short, factual report on our deliberations on the affirmative instrument that we have just considered. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

That completes consideration of the affirmative instrument. I thank the minister and her officials for attending the meeting, and I suspend the meeting briefly to allow for a change of witnesses.

10:04 Meeting suspended.  

10:06 On resuming—