latest on legal aid reform ... debate in parliament yesterday ....
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070111/hallindx/70111-x.htm
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, Vera Baird - 'I pay tribute to the (not for profit) sector but ... we have been driving competence and productivity up by requiring not-for-profit people to undertake cases as though they were on a fixed fee. Instead of being paid £55,000 for 1,100 hours, they have to do a fixed number of cases. That is how productivity has risen.
It is all about productivity. As far as one can see, there is nothing, except efficiency, to distinguish two suppliers in the same area whose times for completing particular kinds of case are vastly different.'
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