Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill Committee Stage Report

This is a report on the House of Commons committee stage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. It complements Research Paper 11/53 prepared for the Commons second reading.

The Bill covers a wide range of issues and has attracted much controversy. It would narrow the scope for legal aid (taking many types of case outside its scope) and pave the way for changes to eligibility criteria. It would also change arrangements for litigation funding and costs. It would introduce new offences of possessing a knife and using it to threaten someone and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

In the Bill’s remaining stages, it is likely that the areas that will prove most contentious will be the restrictions on legal aid, the introduction of new offences and possible Government amendments on squatting and self-defence and sentences of imprisonment for public protection.