APPG – 8 April 2014

A breakfast meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid has been called for Tuesday 8 April 2014 at 8.30-10am in the Jubilee Room, House of Commons.  The meeting will focus on important changes to judicial review work due to come into force on 22 April 2014. 

The meeting will also host the inaugural screening of a short film by the Justice Alliance. The film highlights the negative impact the judicial review changes will have on clients. There will be time for discussion following the screening.

The changes to judicial review are being implemented by two pieces of legislation: the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2014 and the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill. The regulations are due to be implemented on 22 April 2014. Motions opposing the regulations have been laid in both Houses and will be the subject of Parliamentary debates in the near future. Concern has also been expressed by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee who have referred the regulations to Parliament. More information about the proposed changes is available here.

If you would like to attend, please email john.ludlow@parliament.uk to register a place.

Other ways in which you can help:

  1. Below is a template letter to send to your MP. Please do personalise this template as you see fit. Also, please check to see if your MP has already signed the EDM (www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/1220) and delete the reference to it below if they have (you could thank him/her for supporting the EDM instead).
  1. If you are available to take notes of the discussion as our YLAL reporter, please email Alice at alice.cullingworth@gmail.com and ask to join the APPG subgroup. Acting as a YLAL reporter involves attending the APPG, taking notes, and drafting a summary of the film and debate to be published as a news item on this website.
  1. If you are also available to assist in emailing peers in advance of the meeting, please also email Alice. We need as many Parliamentarians to pick up on this issue as possible and the APPG will be an excellent way to build some support against these highly damaging JR reforms.

 

—————————————————————————-

Dear [NAME OF YOUR MP],

I write as your constituent to ask you to please join us at a breakfast meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid on Tuesday 8 April 2014 at 8.30-10am in the Jubilee Room, House of Commons.  The meeting will focus on important changes to judicial review work due to come into force on 22 April 2014. 

The meeting will also host the inaugural screening of a short film (around 5 minutes long) by the Justice Alliance, which is a coalition of more than 120 charities, organisations, community groups and experts. The film features the experiences of a number of people who have used judicial review to access justice, including:

  • Anita Grinham, whose rape investigation was mishandled by the police and used judicial review to ensure access to adequate compensation;
  • Gyanendra Rai, a Gurkha veteran of the Falklands war who used judicial review to help him access the pension he had been denied; and
  • Anne Hall, whose disabled son Daniel was imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs without adequate care or support, resulting in his hospitalisation and near death, and who was subsequently released through the use of judicial review.

There will be time for discussion following the screening.

The changes to judicial review are being implemented by two pieces of legislation: the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2014 and the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill. The regulations are due to be implemented on 22 April 2014. Motions opposing the regulations have been laid in both Houses and will be the subject of Parliamentary debates in the near future. Concern has also been expressed by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee who have referred the regulations to Parliament. You can read the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s report here:

An Early Day Motion has been laid asking for the Regulations to be annulled. Please register your concern by signing the EDM against the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2014 and urge other colleagues to do the same.

The APPG will provide an opportunity for Parliamentarians to find out about the changes through the film and discussion with experts in judicial review work.

If you would like to attend, please email john.ludlow@parliament.uk to register a place.

Kind regards,

[YOUR NAME]

[YOUR ADDRESS]