Parliamentary Search

Adjournment debate on Thursday, 12 July 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Beith. The answering member was Maria Eagle.

Carter Review (Legal Aid)

Westminster Hall adjournment debate on the Carter Review on legal aid.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
462 c487-534WH 
Session
2006-07
Department
Ministry of Justice
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
Related items
Deposited Paper DEP 06/1319
Thursday, 13 July 2006
Deposited papers
House of Lords
House of Commons
Legal Aid
Monday, 25 June 2007
Written statements
House of Lords
Proceeding contributions
Lord Whitehead | 462 c500-1WH (Link to this contribution) I hope that we can all agree about the statement right at the beginning of the Government’s response...
David Drew | 462 c501-2WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that there is another problem with the tendering process: one that relate...
Show all contributions (75)
Jeremy Corbyn | 462 c499WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman must be aware that some courts are incredibly badly run. Large numbers of cases a...
Graham Stuart | 462 c499-500WH (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely right, but instead of looking to tackle the problem, Ministers are here attacking...
Speaker | 462 c503WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Interventions should be short.
Lord Whitehead | 462 c502-3WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend illustrates that there are complications in the application of the tendering process ...
Graham Stuart | 462 c503WH (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that some processes are not suitable for tendering? In a commercial en...
Graham Stuart | 462 c497-9WH (Link to this contribution) Perhaps self-confidence and even occasional arrogance are seen more often in barristers than in soli...
Diane Abbott | 462 c497WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should not be unduly excited that the Minister was a legal aid solicitor. The for...
Graham Stuart | 462 c497WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to stand here again to talk about an issue on which I introduced a debate with the ...
Geoffrey Cox | 462 c506-7WH (Link to this contribution) That is a question to which I shall return this answer. First, I do not believe that a poorer level ...
Geoffrey Cox | 462 c507WH (Link to this contribution) No, I shall not give way at the moment. The studies on the criminal legal aid system show that the u...
Lord Bellingham | 462 c507WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right. The fault is not with the lawyers. Legal aid payment...
Geoffrey Cox | 462 c507WH (Link to this contribution) As a lawyer, I am willing to accept almost any fault. I am certainly not going to defend lawyers. Th...
Baroness Hoey | 462 c508-9WH (Link to this contribution) I, too, congratulate the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith), as chairman of the Co...
Lord Whitehead | 462 c503-4WH (Link to this contribution) I recognise that a number of other Members wish to contribute, so I shall be as brief as I can in dr...
Lord Whitehead | 462 c503WH (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman. The tendering process is differentially appropriate to different se...
Hugh Bayley | 462 c506WH (Link to this contribution) The budget for criminal legal aid has risen by 37 per cent. in real terms in the past 10 years. Why ...
Geoffrey Cox | 462 c504-6WH (Link to this contribution) I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Interests. Some Members present will know t...
Keith Vaz | 462 c488WH (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman will remember the proceedings in the Committee and the evidence given by bl...
Lord Beith | 462 c488WH (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman was actively involved in the Committee work on the report, and neither he n...
Lord Beith | 462 c487-8WH (Link to this contribution) I am glad to see you in the Chair, Mr. Martlew, and I am grateful for your assistance already in try...
David Drew | 462 c488WH (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has said that there is a problem in relation to both criminal legal firms a...
Speaker | 462 c494WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Many hon. Members are standing, and I hope that they will bear that in mind in terms of the l...
Keith Vaz | 462 c495-6WH (Link to this contribution) It is always a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith), the Chai...
Diane Abbott | 462 c496WH (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is little point in the Government saying that they are co...
Keith Vaz | 462 c496-7WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and there will be an impact on other services. As young, talente...
Lord Beith | 462 c489-90WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is right: the report says that in terms, and I shall refer to it again. We focused ou...
David Lepper | 462 c490WH (Link to this contribution) In the light of what the right hon. Gentleman has just said, will he consider as an example illustra...
Speaker | 462 c490WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Interventions should be short.
Lord Beith | 462 c490-4WH (Link to this contribution) You will know from that intervention, Mr. Martlew, that there are many hon. Members present who are ...
Diane Abbott | 462 c489WH (Link to this contribution) On the question of the reduction in suppliers, does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is prophe...
Lord Beith | 462 c488-9WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I intended to come on to the point that he makes, because it...
David Howarth | 462 c532WH (Link to this contribution) There is an important question about hourly rates. The Minister is right to say that they create per...
Maria Eagle | 462 c532-3WH (Link to this contribution) I do not think that we are moving from a completely terrible system to a totally perfect one. We are...
Lord Bellingham | 462 c530-1WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman’s point is absolutely spot on, and I agree 100 per cent. that, of course, that is...
Maria Eagle | 462 c531-2WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to attend the debate as the new Minister with responsibility in the House of Common...
Lord Bellingham | 462 c528-30WH (Link to this contribution) I shall not, because the hon. Gentleman said that the very top Queen’s counsel should not be availab...
Jeremy Corbyn | 462 c530WH (Link to this contribution) I endorse the points that the hon. Gentleman and my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney, North and St...
Lord Bellingham | 462 c527WH (Link to this contribution) I am short of time, but I shall give way very quickly.
Hugh Bayley | 462 c528WH (Link to this contribution) I made no such suggestion. The hon. Gentleman’s own implication that the 99 per cent. of lawyers who...
Maria Eagle | 462 c533-4WH (Link to this contribution) I wanted to make a few comments before dealing with specific issues, but my hon. Friend has raised a...
Diane Abbott | 462 c533WH (Link to this contribution) Do the Government have any plans to ameliorate the reforms’ disproportionate effect on black and min...
Diane Abbott | 462 c519-20WH (Link to this contribution) I am not a lawyer, and neither am I here to represent the producer interest—to use a rather distaste...
Diane Abbott | 462 c520-1WH (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that time is against me. Black and minority ethnic solicitors are an important ingredie...
David Kidney | 462 c521-4WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to take part in the debate. I have a registered interest as a non-practising solici...
Hugh Bayley | 462 c517-8WH (Link to this contribution) I most certainly agree with parts of what the hon. and learned Gentleman has said. The problem with ...
Speaker | 462 c518WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Three Back Benchers wish to speak, and I would like to start the winding-up speeches at 5.25 ...
John McDonnell | 462 c518-9WH (Link to this contribution) I shall be extremely brief then, Mr. Martlew, and simply place on the record the concerns that my co...
Lord Bellingham | 462 c527WH (Link to this contribution) I too declare an interest, although it is registered. I am a non-practising barrister. I congratulat...
David Howarth | 462 c524-7WH (Link to this contribution) This has been a remarkably powerful debate—I include the previous speech in that comment—which has h...
Hugh Bayley | 462 c527WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Hugh Bayley | 462 c514-5WH (Link to this contribution) Given the reaction of the Chairman of the Select Committee to my opening remarks, I feel a little as...
Diane Abbott | 462 c515WH (Link to this contribution) I am surprised that a self-confessed Labour moderniser is calling for a return to a prices and incom...
Hugh Bayley | 462 c516WH (Link to this contribution) The point is that if we have a system that overpays some and leaves insufficient money for the rest,...
Lord Beith | 462 c516WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, because he raises a quite important point. Indee...
Hugh Bayley | 462 c515WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an assumption; I shall listen carefully to her speech to see if she provides ev...
Geoffrey Cox | 462 c515-6WH (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman took a straw poll of solicitors in this country and offered them £100,000 a ye...
Geoffrey Cox | 462 c517WH (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to you for reminding me of that, Mr. Martlew. Does the hon. Gentleman not accept...
Geoffrey Cox | 462 c517WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has been generous with his time and I am extremely grateful, but I wish to make t...
Hugh Bayley | 462 c516-7WH (Link to this contribution) The Chairman of the Committee is right, but the NAO report, as I am sure he is aware, found that 33 ...
Diane Abbott | 462 c509WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley) sought to imply that the rise in cost was w...
Baroness Hoey | 462 c509WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. We have a similar caseload. All London MPs who represent inner-city areas k...
Maria Eagle | 462 c509WH (Link to this contribution) I have heard what various hon. Members have said about increasing expenditure being down to volume i...
Baroness Hoey | 462 c509-10WH (Link to this contribution) I do not think that any of us said that it was the only explanation, but it is a major aspect. The M...
Speaker | 462 c510WH (Link to this contribution) A considerable number of Members wish to speak, so if hon. Members keep their speeches short we may ...
Hugh Bayley | 462 c514WH (Link to this contribution) Legal aid is a very necessary service, and legal aid lawyers do a fantastic job on behalf of the cli...
Jeremy Corbyn | 462 c510-3WH (Link to this contribution) I will be brief, because I want to ensure that everybody gets in. The attendance here, the volume of...
Hugh Bayley | 462 c514WH (Link to this contribution) I said that almost everyone who has anything to say about the matter has a vested interest. The hon....
Lord Beith | 462 c514WH (Link to this contribution) I am neither a lawyer nor, because of my income as a Member of Parliament, do I qualify for legal ai...
Speaker | 462 c514WH (Link to this contribution) Owing to the time lost through Divisions, the debate is now scheduled to finish at 6 pm.
Maria Eagle | 462 c534WH (Link to this contribution) There is no doubt that the legal aid spend has been going up. There have not been cuts in the way th...
Graham Stuart | 462 c534WH (Link to this contribution) I should just like to nail one point. The legal aid budget has increased, as the Minister said, to £...
Subjects
Disadvantaged Legal profession Equality Fees and charges Human rights Legal aid scheme Ethnic groups Reform Legal Aid Procurement Review
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk