Legal Aid and Coroners' Courts Act (Northern Ireland) 2014

JurisdictionNorthern Ireland
Citation2014 NI c 11
(1) On the dissolution date, the Commission is dissolved.Part 3 of the 1981 Order, andthe 2003 Order,(3) Subsection (2) has effect subject to any amendment or repeal of provisions in Part 3 of the 1981 Order or the 2003 Order made by this Act (and in particular subject to any amendment providing for a particular function to be exercised by the Director) .(4) The functions transferred by subsection (2) include functions under provisions not yet in operation at the time mentioned in that subsection.(5) Schedule 1 makes provision for, and in connection with, the transfer of the assets, liabilities and staff of the Commission to the Department.(6) In this Act—
  • the 1981 Order” means the Legal Aid, Advice and Assistance (Northern Ireland) Order 1981;
  • the 2003 Order” means the Access to Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2003;
  • the Commission” means the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission;
  • the Department” means the Department of Justice;
  • the Director” means the Director of Legal Aid Casework designated by the Department under section 2;
  • the dissolution date” means the day appointed under section 12 for the coming into operation of this section;
  • statutory provision” has the meaning given by section 1(f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954.
(1) The Department must designate a civil servant in the Department as the Director of Legal Aid Casework (“the Director”) .(2) The selection of the person to be so designated must be on the basis of merit through fair and open public competition.(3) The Director is to carry out the functions of the office on behalf of the Crown.(4) Service as the Director is service in the Northern Ireland civil service.(5) The Department must make arrangements for the provision to the Director by civil servants or other persons (or both) of such assistance as the Department considers appropriate.comply with directions given by the Department about the carrying out of the Director's functions, andhave regard to guidance given by the Department about the carrying out of those functions.must not give a direction or guidance about the carrying out of those functions in relation to an individual case, andmust ensure that the Director acts independently of the Department when applying a direction or guidance under this section in relation to an individual case.(3) The Department must publish any directions and guidance given under this section.(4) Directions and guidance under this section may be revised or withdrawn from time to time.(1) The functions conferred on the Director by any statutory provision may be exercised by, or by employees of, a person authorised by the Director for that purpose.to authorise, or not to authorise, a person to carry out a function specified in the direction, orto authorise, or not to authorise, a person specified, or of a description specified, in the direction to carry out such a function.wholly or to a limited extent,generally or in particular cases or areas,unconditionally or subject to conditions,may specify its duration,may specify or describe the authorised person,may be varied or revoked at any time by the Director, anddoes not prevent the Director or another person from exercising the function to which the authorisation relates.(5) Anything done or omitted to be done by or in relation to the authorised person (or an employee of such a person) in, or in connection with, the exercise or purported exercise of the function concerned is to be treated for all purposes as done or omitted to be done by or in relation to the Director.does not affect the rights and liabilities of the authorised person or the Department under any agreement made between them,does not prevent any civil proceedings which could otherwise be brought by or against the authorised person (or an employee of that person) from being brought, anddoes not apply for the purposes of criminal proceedings brought in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by the authorised person (or an employee of that person) .an authorisation given for the purposes of this section is revoked, andat the time of the revocation so much of any contract made between the authorised person and the Department as relates to the exercise of the function is subsisting,(8) In this section “authorised person” means a person authorised for the purposes of this section.

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