In all this, value for money is a key issue. Our proposals will only be affordable if a rigorous approach to value for money is maintained. Our measures on criminal legal assistance have started this process. This paper considers possible alternatives to legal aid to remove the burden from the taxpayer where access to justice would not suffer and it also proposes a number of measures to improve cost and quality control within the civil legal aid system. Community legal services should be designed to ensure that people in communities have ready access to the information they need about ways of resolving their legal problems.
Research points to patchy provision throughout Scotland.
Community legal services should be available in all areas of Scotland and should provide good quality advice on the problems people actually experience. Such arrangements could, with suitable legislative changes, be funded by contracts with SLAB and should be piloted and evaluated. An issue for the pilots would be whether the users of advice services which are normally free at point of delivery should be subject to normal means assessment for advice and assistance and required, if appropriate, to pay a contribution. To avoid this issue it might be best to pilot in areas where the vast majority would be eligible for free advice and assistance. The merits test for legal aid The current tests of probable cause and reasonableness seem to be successful in identifying cases which have a good prospect of success, according to SLAB statistics.