Debating legal aid

Many solicitors will have read Janet Paraskeva's letter referring to the government's recent announcement of a major review of the supply, demand and purchasing arrangements for legal services in this country (see [2003] Gazette, 12 June, 18).

The government is not immune to the concerns that there could be a shortage of high-quality lawyers entering legal aid work, and the Lord Chancellor wishes to establish with certainty the costs, fees and conditions necessary to attract and maintain a well-qualified group of legal aid lawyers.

The review will also look at how the Legal Services Commission (LSC) might best buy these publicly funded services.

The review will be the most comprehensive and far-reaching study undertaken to date of the market pressures at work in the sector.

To ensure that the product of the review is both credible and statistically robust, the Department for Constitutional Affairs has employed two sets of consultants - Frontier Economics and Otterburn Consulting - which, acting independently of the department and the Legal Services Commission, will collect and analyse large quantities of data and produce a detailed economic analysis.

A questionnaire currently being developed by the consultants will be sent to at least 3,000 firms with legal aid contracts in all parts of the country and in all categories of law.

It landed on practitioners' desks from 23 June.

I cannot emphasise enough the importance of taking the time to complete and return this survey.

I fully accept that this may not be a popular addition to an already creaking in-tray, but it scarcely needs to be said that the more responses we receive, the better and more influential the analysis will be as a driver to future policy in this area.

Many of the questions will ask you to reveal details of the income and expenditure of your firm, which is vital to the understanding of the legal aid market.

However, confidentiality is guaranteed, and the independent consultants will ensure that it is not possible for either the department or the LSC to identify individual firms from the data provided.

I would endorse Ms Paraskeva's comment that it is 'only solicitors who can tell us how legal aid really works today'.

This is likely to be your best opportunity directly to influence this important debate and the shape of legal aid for the future.

David Lammy MP, parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Constitutional Affairs