Statutory Instruments
LEGAL AID AND ADVICE, ENGLAND AND WALES
Made
28th August 2000
Laid before Parliament
31st August 2000
Coming into force
2nd October 2000
The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 21, 34 and 43 of the Legal Aid Act 1988(1), makes the following Regulations:
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (General) (Amendment No. 4) Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 2nd October 2000.
2. In these Regulations a reference to any regulation or Schedule by number alone means the regulation or Schedule so numbered in the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (General) Regulations 1989(2).
3. These Regulations shall apply to all applications for legal aid made on or after 2nd October 2000 and applications made before that date shall be treated as if these Regulations had not been made.
4. In regulation 3(1):-
(a)after the definition of "attendance allowance" the following shall be inserted:-
""the Commission" means the Legal Services Commission established under section 1 of the Access to Justice Act 1999(3);";
(b)after the definition of "Court of Appeal" the following shall be inserted:-
""the Crime Franchise Panel" has the meaning given in the Legal Aid (Prescribed Panels) (Amendment) Regulations 2000(4);".
5.-(1) In regulation 45(1), the following shall be inserted after "Subject to":-
"paragraph (3) and".
(2) The following paragraph shall be inserted after regulation 45(2):-
"(3) The right conferred by regulation 45(1), as regards representation funded by the Commission, shall be exercisable only in relation to any solicitor who is for the time being a member of the Crime Franchise Panel in respect of the proceedings in relation to which the representation is being granted.".
6.-(1) In Schedule 2, in Form 1:-
(a)paragraph 3 a) and b) shall be amended by substituting "20" for "19";
(b)in paragraphs 5 a) and 8, the references to Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance shall be deleted;
(c)the following shall be inserted after paragraph 5 d):-
"
";
(d)the following paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph 8:-
"
".
(2) In Schedule 2, in the Welsh version of Form 1:-
(a)paragraph 3 a) and b) shall be amended by substituting "20" for "19";
(b)in paragraphs 5 a) and 8, the words "Credyd Teulu, Lwfans Gweithio i'r Anabl," shall be deleted;
(c)the following shall be inserted after paragraph 5 d):-
"
";
(d)the following paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph 8:-
"
".
7. In Schedule 2, Forms 3, 11 and 11A, and the Welsh versions of those forms, shall be amended by substituting "20" for "19".
8.-(1) In Schedule 2, in Form 5:-
(a)in the preamble, the references to Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance shall be deleted;
(b)in paragraph 2, in the section headed "State Benefits", the reference to unemployment benefit shall be deleted.
(2) In Schedule 2, in the Welsh version of Form 5:-
(a)in the preamble, the words "Credyd Teulu, Lwfans Gweithio i'r Anabl," shall be deleted;
(b)in paragraph 2, in the section headed "Budd-daliadau'r Wladwriaeth", the words "fudd-dal diweithdra" shall be deleted.
Signed by authority of the Lord Chancellor
David Lock
Parliamentary Secretary,
Lord Chancellor's Department
Dated 28th August 2000
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations make amendments to the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (General) Regulations 1989 consequential on the Legal Aid (Prescribed Panels) Amendment Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/1930), so as to provide that a solicitor assigned under a legal aid order in the magistrates' court must be a member of the Crime Franchise Panel.
The Regulations also make various minor amendments to the forms in Schedule 2. These include, in the Statement of Means, changes consequential on the exclusion of the system of the assessment of applicants' financial resources in certain circumstances introduced by the Legal Aid Act 1988 (Modification) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/2227) and the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (General) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/2226). These circumstances are:
(i)where a person appears before a magistrates' court following charge at a police station, other than in relation to an offence triable only on indictment or any other offence where the court sends a person to the Crown Court for trial under section 51 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998; and
(ii)where a person appears before a youth court.
1988 c. 34; this Act is repealed, in part, by the Access to Justice Act 1999 (c. 22), subject to savings and transitional provisions contained in S.I. 2000/774. Sections 34 and 43 were amended by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (c. 41), Schedule 18, paragraphs 60, 62 and 63. Section 43 is cited because of the meaning given to "regulations".
S.I. 2000/1930.