Westminster update: minister highlights addresses asylum legal aid funding

Economic contribution of legal services

Read our new report on the economic contribution of legal services in which we highlight the combined direct and indirect contribution of the legal services sector to the economy is £74.4 billion in turnover and £57.8 billion in gross value added.

Asylum legal aid: minister highlights Law Society's role

The Lord Bishop of Sheffield used an oral question in the House of Lords on Thursday 23 January to highlight the crisis in the immigration and asylum legal aid sector.

He said that asylum seekers are being removed without being able to mount a meaningful appeal and asked what the government is doing to help those unable to appeal due to the shortage of legal aid practitioners.

Justice minister Lord Ponsonby said the government is working with the sector and the Law Society to fund the accreditation of suitably qualified people to undertake this work.

He said the government is increasing the base of lawyers able to provide legal aid in this sphere.

Speaking for the Lib Dems, Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames said his research had found that 60% of those eligible could not find a lawyer.

Legal aid increases would help with this he said, but it will not close legal advice deserts across the country. He asked how more solicitors could be encouraged to do this work.

Lord Ponsonby again pointed to the work being done with the Law Society to help get rid of legal aid deserts.

Explore our map of immigration legal aid deserts across England and Wales.

Finally, Baroness Deech (Crossbench) asked the Government to increase access to legal aid, pointing to the large numbers of people who need but cannot access family legal aid. Lord Ponsonby said various initiatives are being looked at, including access to early advice and family mediation vouchers.

Minister reassures peers on EU-UK data adequacy

On Tuesday 21 January, Lord Vallance of Balham, representing the government, highlighted the importance of maintaining EU-UK data adequacy for the ease of business transfers during the first report stage session for the Data (Use and Access) Bill.

During the debate, Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat) spoke on his amendment.

This amendment, suggested by the Law Society, requires the government to publish an impact assessment on the bill’s potential effects on the UK’s designation as data adequate with the EU.

Lord Vallance reassured peers that the government is doing all it can to support a swift renewal and that the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has dedicated teams undertaking preparations ahead of the review.

Lord Clement-Jones therefore withdrew his amendment.

Lord Clement-Jones also spoke on his amendment 36, again suggested by the Law Society, to:

• require the secretary of state to produce a definition of “meaningful human involvement” in automated decision making in collaboration with the Information Commissioner’s Office, or
• to clearly set out their reasoning as to why that is not required within six months of the Act passing

In response to this amendment, Lord Vallance noted that “terminology, introduced in the bill, goes beyond the current UK GDPR wording to prevent cursory human involvement being used to rubber stamp decisions as not being solely automated. The point at which human involvement becomes meaningful is context specific, which is why we have not sought to be prescriptive in the Bill.”

Lord Clement-Jones asked for further reassurance that codes of practice would be forthcoming before the bill is enacted.

Lord Vallance agreed they would be but did not give any further detail.

Lord Clement-Jones did not move his amendment 36.

Viscount Colville (crossbench) meanwhile moved his amendment 14, which seeks to ensure that research must be in the public interest to qualify for the scientific research exception for data reuse.

Lord Vallance attempted to reassure peers by highlighting that clause 67 will help avoid misuse of the term by introducing a test of whether the research could reasonably be described as scientific.

The amendment was subsequently pushed to a vote, which saw it pass by a margin of 258 contents to 138 not contents.

Liberal Democrats call for a youth mobility scheme with the EU

The Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Europe, James MacCleary, tabled a ten-minute rule bill on negotiating a youth mobility scheme with the EU.

While these types of bills very rarely progress into legislation, the convention provides a space for MPs to raise awareness on an issue and garner support across the House.

MacCleary had the support of the Green party, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Alliance party of Northern Ireland.

His bill proposes a “pragmatic, defined scheme that will once again allow young people across the UK to be able to spend time with our nearest neighbours without having to navigate a tangle of Brexit red tape”.

He is advocating for a youth mobility scheme with the EU that would open up opportunities for British young people to learn new skills, languages and cultures and bring all of that back with them to benefit our economy and our society.

We know from conversations with members that this is an important issue for the legal sector as trainees are struggling to get visas to complete work experience in offices in the EU.

MacCleary has spoken with his EU counterparts, noting that they had a clear message: “after years of attempts to cherry-pick, the UK now needs to show that it is once again a trusted and reliable partner. By taking the lead on a youth mobility scheme, we have an opportunity to build that trust with our European allies that would allow us to explore our other priorities”.

Coming up:

We are working closely with MPs and peers to influence a number of bills before parliament:

• Arbitration Bill will have its second reading in the Commons on 29 January
• Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill began its committee stage in the Commons on 21 January
• Data (Access and Use) Bill began its report stage in the Lords on 21 January
• Employment Rights Bill began its committee stage in the Commons on 26 November
• Mental Health Bill began its committee stage in the Lords on 14 January
• Product Regulation and Metrology Bill will begin its report stage in the Lords on a date to be confirmed
• Renters Rights Bill will have its second reading in the Lords on 4 February