Response from Shaun McNally CBE, chief executive, Legal Aid Agency
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) welcomes the opportunity to respond to John Ford’s article “Legal aid, judicial review, and the fight for justice” (NLJ, 3 March 2017, p 7).
The LAA is an Executive Agency set up in 2013 to commission and administer legal aid in England and Wales. The responsibilities carried out by the LAA include making decisions on individual cases on my behalf. As the Director of Legal Aid Casework, I am a statutory office holder appointed under the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). Decisions are taken independently from the Lord Chancellor in accordance with the rules and regulations set down by LASPO and the legal aid legislation. It would not be appropriate for the LAA to comment on the specific case highlighted by Mr Ford (“Miss A”) while the litigation is ongoing.
The LAA must make all decisions within the statutory framework provided by Parliament. We have clear internal processes and structures in place to ensure that our handling of cases is independent, high-quality, and consistent. This includes appropriate escalation procedures to make sure that complicated or high profile matters are considered by more senior staff, and a comprehensive system of review and appeal mechanisms that individuals can use to challenge our initial decisions.
It is incumbent on us to ensure that taxpayers’ money is used for the purposes intended by Parliament. We have a robust testing and assurance regime to ensure that decisions are made in line with the prevailing rules and regulations. The National Audit Office provide a further level of scrutiny. It is a matter of public record that the LAA has received a clean audit opinion since its inception.
The LAA publishes a number of documents on its website setting out transparently how we carry out our functions and manage public money. For readers interested in our work, these can be found here.
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