Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

My Lords, Amendment 90 would have the effect of making legal aid available for services to support some compensation claims to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. Proper support and help for victims of crime is a fundamental part of the Government's vision of the justice system. However, as with the rest of our proposals on legal aid, the challenge before us is to reconcile the savings required as a consequence of our economic situation with the protection of those facing the most urgent and pressing problems. The logic across our reforms is that claims that are essentially financial in nature are of a lower priority than those concerning life, liberty or safety. On the basis that CICA claims are, by definition, primarily about money, the Bill seeks to remove them from scope by including a general exclusion in paragraph 16 of Part 2 of Schedule 1. My noble and learned friend Lord Wallace indicated in Committee that we would consider the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Beecham. We have done so carefully but, giving his arguments due weight, I remain unpersuaded that Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claims should be retained within the scope of legal aid. We recognise that victims of crime will have been involved in a traumatic event. However, the process for making a CICA application is relatively straightforward and there is guidance and support available from CICA to enable victims to make their applications. On the website there is an easy-to-use online form that takes no longer than half an hour to fill out. The section of the guidance about applying for compensation is comprehensive and straightforward. Noble Lords may find it helpful to know that CICA also operates a free telephone helpline to assist people in filling out the form, which is open five days a week. It also offers assistance to those who have difficulty reading or writing. In addition to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority's own services, Victim Support provides independent advice to victims of crime and this can include help with filling in a CICA application. Though it does not provide legal advice, some offices will deal with CICA on behalf of the victims throughout the process. When an applicant is dissatisfied with an offer or a refusal, they can ask CICA to review that decision. If they remain unhappy, they can appeal to the tribunal, and will need to fill in a four-page form and set out their reasons for disagreeing with the CICA decision. Lawyers are perhaps understandably inclined to think that disputes always require their expertise to be resolved, but we must not forget the original idea of tribunals; they were precisely designed to be accessible for the lay person, creating a non-adversarial, fact-finding environment that avoids the formality of court proceedings. It is a regrettable fact that we no longer live in a climate where money can be found for any deserving cause. CICA applications are an excellent example of an area where funding would be helpful in some cases but the system is set up in such a way as to be accessible to the vast majority of applicants. The test that we have applied in these cases is not whether it would be nice to have legal aid funding but whether, given that savings are unavoidable, this is an area where the absence of legal aid is likely to cause serious problems, having regard to the importance of the issue at stake, the litigant's ability to present their own case, the availability of alternative sources of funding, and the availability of other routes to resolution. In our judgment, CICA claims are one area where it is not. I urge the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.