MPs are to investigate the possibility of a legal sector levy as part of a major access to justice inquiry that will also scrutinise the legal services regulators and Legal Aid Agency cyber-attack.
Announcing its latest inquiry yesterday, the House of Commons justice select committee is inviting written evidence on the issues covered in the wide-ranging terms of reference.
Committee chair and Labour MP Andrew Slaughter said access to justice is fundamental to people’s rights to a fair trial or hearing ‘but there are long standing challenges across the sector, including for those seeking legal advice’.
The terms of reference include reviewing the current state of the legal services and representation market, the reliance on pro bono services, and potential funding options to increase access to justice, such as an ‘access to justice fund levy’, conditional fee arrangements and third-party funding.
A levy has been floated in the past. Michael Gove raised the prospect as lord chancellor, telling the Commons in 2015 that the government was going to ask the ‘very richest in the justice system to do a little bit more’ to fund the justice system. Another Conservative justice secretary, Alex Chalk, considered the possibility of a City levy to fund legal aid shortly after being appointed a justice minister in 2020.
The inquiry will also scrutnise how the legal services regulators are responding to their obligation to improve access to justice and the Ministry of Justice's response to the the LAA cyber-attack. Data collection and non-court dispute resolution are also on the agenda.
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Welcoming the inquiry, Law Society president Richard Atkinson said: ‘Our 21st Century Justice report sets out key steps the government and legal sector could take to improve access to legal support such as creating a free AI-powered tool that helps people understand their legal issue and signposts them to the help they need.
‘Legal aid also plays an essential role in allowing people to access justice, but like all vital public services it needs to be funded.’
The committee’s report on the county courts ‘is the latest of a number of documents to shine a light on the need for investment across the entire creaking justice system’, Atkinson added.
The call for written evidence closes on 30 September.
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