The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill bounced back to the House of Lords on Monday for consideration of Commons’ amendments. Members of the Lords voted eight times during the debate, and in scoreboard terms, the result for the government was played 8, won 4, lost 3, with one sort of score draw. Read the full story

A fortnight ago the Government signalled that it was abandoning controversial clause 12 of the Legal Aid bill that would have introduced means testing for initial advice and assistance at the police station. Now it looks as if further concessions could be on the way.

Having suffered heavy defeats in the Lords over the welfare reform and health service bills, the government appears eager to avoid further embarrassing reversals. As reported in the ‘Guardian’, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly, addressing a Westminster Legal Policy Forum meeting, said that the government continues to Read the full story

The creation of the post of Chief Coroner for England and Wales was at the heart of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. The role was designed to introduce national leadership of the coroner service, considered a crucial step in tackling unacceptable delays, inconsistent standards of service delivery and lack of accountability.

Then, in a Commons written statement in October 2010, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said: “After careful consideration, we have decided Read the full story

At meetings of the Public Bill Committee considering the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill on 6th and 8th September opposition amendments were comprehensively rejected.

Opponents wanted to return the large areas of law that the government has sought to exclude, including welfare benefits, clinical negligence, disability, education and housing law, into the scope of legal aid. Shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter told the Commons committee that the amendments went to the heart of their opposition to the Government’s strategy of restricting legal aid. He said: Read the full story