Power Simon: Legal Services Bill — Third Reading 
Power Simon: Legal Services Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:671;Page:17772] 
Hon SIMON POWER (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Legal Services Bill be now read a third time 
. The Legal Services Bill forms the Government’s response to Dame Margaret Bazley’s call to transform the legal aid system. These are important reforms. This bill will help restore public confidence in the legal aid system and will lead to better service for vulnerable people who rely on the legal aid system. The bill overhauls the administration of the legal aid scheme by bringing the functions of the Legal Services Agency into the Ministry of Justice and creating an independent statutory officer to exercise those functions that require independence. It also creates a new Legal Aid Tribunal for resolving disputes over entitlements. Dame Margaret Bazley highlighted the need for legal aid to be administered as a core part of the justice system and I expect that these new arrangements will lead to a better alignment between the court system and the legal aid system. 
The Legal Services Bill will improve the responsiveness of the system and allow for innovative service delivery by removing much of the prescription in the old Act and allowing the Secretary for Justice the flexibility to establish different legal services and deliver services in different ways. This is consistent with the Government’s commitment to improving the quality of public services and ensuring value for money. The bill also streamlines the eligibility process for prescribed grants. This will apply to low-cost grants in a criminal jurisdiction and will reduce the compliance costs for providers speeding up granting decisions and reducing the cost of administering the system. 
The bill also clarifies funding arrangements for Waitangi Tribunal proceedings and removes the risk of overlap and duplication with funding for settlement negotiations. Importantly the bill introduces a new quality assurance and performance management system for providers to enable the ministry to manage the quality of services provided to legally aided clients. The new quality assurance system will require providers to prove that they are up to the job before they enter the system and regular reappraisal will then ensure they maintain high standards. 
We are all well aware of the review by Dame Margaret Bazley that led to this bill being introduced. In her report Dame Margaret called for a sea change in the way legal aid operates. When someone as experienced in providing services to the public as Dame Margaret Bazley talked about system-wide failings a system open to abuse and appalling behaviour we knew we had a problem. This bill is merely the starting point and we will closely watch the implementation of the bill and its provisions. 
I again commend and thank the Justice and Electoral Committee under the chairmanship of Chester Borrows for the work it has done in considering the Legal Services Bill. To all those who made submissions to the select committee I want to express my appreciation for their time and for their views. Submitters were concerned that the transfer of the legal aid system to the Ministry of Justice may reduce the level of independence in the legal aid system. We thought about this carefully in the policy design and I am pleased that the committee agreed that the position of the Legal Services Commissioner will guarantee that independence. These important reforms will restore public confidence in the provision of effective legal aid services. I commend this bill to the House.