The government has launched its long-promised review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, commonly known as LASPO.
First announced in January last year, the so-called Post-Implementation Review is intended to reflect the significant changes to both the legal system and society in general since LASPO first came into force on April 1 2013. These include the rapid advances in information technology in recent years, which have opened up new channels to legal advice.
According to the official Ministry of Justice terms of reference, the original objectives of LASPO Act were:
- To discourage unnecessary and adversarial litigation at public expense;
- To target legal aid at those who need it most;
- To make significant savings to the cost of the scheme; and
- To deliver better overall value for money for the taxpayer.
The Post-Implementation Review will therefore “assess the impact of this set of policies against the aforesaid objectives.”
The Minister is now looking for interested parties who wish to submit relevant evidence for the review.
Read more here.
