- Home
About us- Transforming legal aid
- Improving efficiency
Improving efficiency
On this page:
- Maximising access to legal aid
- National and regional work underway
- Corporate targets to improve the justice system
- For more information
Maximising access to legal aid
The aim of our ‘whole system initiatives’ work is to improve efficiency across the civil and criminal justice systems.
This is part of wide ranging reforms to maximise access to legal aid for the future. By working effectively and efficiently with our partners across the whole justice system we can achieve best value for money and continue to increase the numbers of people helped.
National and regional work underway
Emphasis is on engaging with Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS) and the Tribunals Service, two of our key Ministry of Justice partners.
This includes participating in Local Criminal Justice Boards and Family Justice Councils and working with Mental Health Review Tribunals.
We have set up quarterly legal aid stakeholder meetings chaired by Lord Hunt, with senior members and officials from key groups including:
- the Senior Presiding Judge
- Attorney General’s Office
- Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS)
- Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
- Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO)
- Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR)
- The Law Society
- The Bar Council
- Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS)
- Advice Services Alliance
- HM Treasury
- Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).
Provider Reference Groups
Provider Reference Groups (PRGs) meet three times a year in each of the LSC regions. Each region has a civil and crime group.
Each group has about 10 providers and:
-
discusses policy implementation
-
discusses future planning
- informs future thinking and current issues.
Most PRGs are full. If you would like to get involved please contact your relationship manager.
Terms of reference and an example agenda are in the Documents panel.
Corporate targets to improve the justice system
In 2008-9 we will build on the successes we achieved in meeting our 2007-8 targets.
As we will be focussing on mental health in addition to family and crime, we have expanded the targets to reflect this.
In family, the focus remains the same, but in crime will be wider than last year’s focus on the police station and the magistrates’ court.
Our new targets for 2008-9 are to:
- engage with Her Majesty’s Court Service (HMCS), Police and Mental Health Review Tribunal (MHRT) to address identified and agreed operational and policy issues that unnecessarily increase legal aid costs or cause unnecessary operational difficulties to legal aid providers
- work effectively with justice system partners to assist to deliver the CJSSS and PSA 4 targets (PSA4 is a government target to complete care proceedings within 40 weeks)
- make transparent the full cost of the criminal defence through input into the Waterfall (an activity model produced by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform highlighting the costs of CJS agencies and where the pressures exist).
Specific objectives and milestones can be found on the crime and civil justice system initiatives pages.
For more information
Visit the Civil justice system initiatives and Criminal justice systems initiatives pages under the CLS>Transforming civil legal aid and CDS>Transforming criminal legal aid sections to read more about our work.
We plan to allow providers and other stakeholders to feedback on these efficiences projects via this website. We hope to have this in place by Dec 08.
Last updated: 15 July 2008