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Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

My Lords, my noble and learned friend referred to guidance that would be given to the director in due course about how he approached his task. I would indeed expect that the criteria for what is exceptional would be published by the director as one of his first tasks. An application form for exceptional funding would no doubt have a block saying, ““You will not get this funding unless it is exceptional in the following sense””, or some guidance like that. Accordingly, it would be quite possible to publish criteria as to what the director would consider to be in the interests of justice generally, but I defer to the expression that was used by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, about there being a real risk of injustice if legal aid is not granted. That seems an admirable way to approach it, and I will press that on my noble and learned friend in due course. For the moment, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 91 withdrawn. Amendments 91A to 92A not moved. Clause 9 agreed. Clause 10 : Qualifying for civil legal aid Amendment 93 Clause 10 : Qualifying for civil legal aid Amendment 93 Moved by