The Criminal Legal Aid (General) Regulations 2013
Year | 2013 |
2013 No. 9
Legal Aid And Advice, England And Wales
The Criminal Legal Aid (General) Regulations 2013
Made 9th January 2013
Laid before Parliament 14th January 2013
Coming into force 1st April 2013
The Lord Chancellor makes the following Regulations1in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 5(2) and (4), 13(4) and (5), 14(h), 15(1), (4) to (7) and (9), 16(4) and (6), 17(4), 18(3), (4) and (6), 28(1) and (3), 30(2) and (3), 41(1), (2) and (3) of, and paragraphs 4(1) and (3), 5(4), (7) and (13) and 9(3) of Schedule 3 to, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 20122.
In making these Regulations, in accordance with section 15(3)3of that Act, the Lord Chancellor has had regard, in particular, to the interests of justice.
PART 1
Interpretation and General
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Criminal Legal Aid (General) Regulations 2013 and come into force on 1st April 2013.
Interpretation
2. In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012;
“constable” means a member of a police force, an officer of the British Transport Police Force, an officer of Revenue and Customs and any other official who has a power of arrest by virtue of their office;
“criminal legal aid” means advice, assistance and representation made available under sections 13, 15 and 16 of the Act;
“provider” means a person with whom the Lord Chancellor has made an arrangement under section 2(1) of the Act (arrangements) for the provision of criminal legal aid;
“representation order” means a document which records a determination under section 16 of the Act (representation for criminal proceedings);
“Unit of Work” has the meaning given in paragraph 1.5 of Part A of the Specification to the 2010 Standard Crime Contract; and
“2010 Standard Crime Contract” means the contract so named between the Lord Chancellor and providers for the provision of criminal legal aid4.
Disregarding determinations
3. A determination may be disregarded if made in response to an application made otherwise than in accordance with these Regulations.
Delegation
4. A function of the Lord Chancellor or Director5under these Regulations may be exercised by, or by an employee of, a person authorised for that purpose by the Lord Chancellor or Director respectively6.
Reporting duty
5.—(1) Notwithstanding the relationship between an individual and the provider or any privilege arising out of that relationship, where the provider knows or suspects that the individual—
(a)
(a) has failed without good reason to comply with a requirement to provide information or documents; or
(b)
(b) in providing such required information or documents has made a statement or representation knowing or believing it to be false,
the provider must immediately report the relevant circumstances to the Director.
(2) The withdrawal of a determination does not affect a provider’s right to remuneration for work done prior to the date on which a determination is withdrawn under these Regulations unless the provider has failed without good reason to comply with the reporting requirements in paragraph (1).
Transfer of documents
6.—(1) This regulation applies where an individual—
(a)
(a) is sent, committed or transferred for trial to the Crown Court; or
(b)
(b) appeals or seeks permission to appeal from a lower court to a higher court.
(2) An officer of the lower court must ensure that the following documents are sent from the lower court to the higher court—
(a)
(a) a copy of any representation order made in the proceedings; and
(b)
(b) a copy of any application for a representation order in relation to the proceedings which has been refused.
PART 2
Advice and assistance for individuals in custody
General
7. This Part makes provision about the making of determinations by the Director under section 13 of the Act (advice and assistance for individuals in custody).
Applications
8. An application for initial advice and initial assistance must be made—
(a) to the Defence Solicitor Call Centre established by the Lord Chancellor under section 2 of the Act (arrangements); and
(b) in accordance with the requirements set out in the 2010 Standard Crime Contract for the Unit of Work which is the subject of the application.
PART 3
Criminal proceedings
Criminal proceedings
9. The following proceedings are criminal proceedings for the purposes of section 14(h) of the Act (criminal proceedings)—
(a) civil proceedings in a magistrates’ court arising from a failure to pay a sum due or to obey an order of that court where such failure carries the risk of imprisonment;
(b) proceedings under sections 14B, 14D, 14G, 14H, 21B and 21D of the Football Spectators Act 19897in relation to banning orders and references to a court;
(c) proceedings under section 5A of the Protection from Harassment Act 19978in relation to restraining orders on acquittal;
(d) proceedings under sections 1, 1D and 4 of the Crime and Disorder Act 19989in relation to anti-social behaviour orders;
(e) proceedings under sections 1G and 1H of the Crime and Disorder Act 199810in relation to intervention orders, in which an application for an anti-social behaviour order has been made;
(f) proceedings under section 8(1)(b) of the Crime and Disorder Act 199811in relation to parenting orders made where an anti-social behaviour order or a sex offender order is made in respect of a child;
(g) proceedings under section 8(1)(c) of the Crime and Disorder Act 199812in relation to parenting orders made on the conviction of a child;
(h) proceedings under section 9(5) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to discharge or vary a parenting order made as set out in sub-paragraph (f) or (g);
(i) proceedings under section 10 of the Crime and Disorder Act 199813in relation to an appeal against a parenting order made as set out in sub-paragraph (f) or (g);
(j) proceedings under Part 1A of Schedule 1 to the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 200014in relation to parenting orders for failure to comply with orders under section 20 of that Act;
(k) proceedings under sections 2, 5 and 6 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 200315in relation to closure orders;
(l) proceedings under sections 20, 22, 26 and 28 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 200316in relation to parenting orders—
(i) in cases of exclusion from school; or
(ii) in respect of criminal conduct and anti-social behaviour;
(m) proceedings under sections 97, 100 and 101 of the Sexual Offences Act 200317in relation to notification orders and interim notification orders;
(n) proceedings under sections 104, 10818, 109 and 110 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in relation to sexual offences prevention orders and interim sexual offences prevention orders;
(o) proceedings under sections 114, 118 and 119 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in relation to foreign travel orders;
(p) proceedings under sections 123, 125, 126 and 127 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in relation to risk of sexual harm orders and interim risk of sexual harm orders;
(q) proceedings under sections 3, 5, 9 and 10 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 200619in relation to drinking banning orders and interim drinking banning orders;
(r) proceedings under section 13 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 200720on appeal against a decision of the Upper Tribunal in proceedings in respect of—
(i) a decision of the Financial Services Authority;
(ii) a decision of the Bank of England; or
(iii) a decision of a person in relation to the assessment of any compensation or consideration under the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 200821or the Banking Act 200922;
(s) proceedings before the Crown Court or the Court of Appeal in relation to serious crime prevention orders under sections 19, 20, 21 and 24 of the Serious Crime Act 200723;
(t) proceedings under sections 100, 101, 103, 104 and 106 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 200824in relation to violent offender orders and interim violent offender orders;
(u) proceedings under sections 26, 27 and 29 of the Crime and Security Act 201025in relation to—
(i) domestic violence protection notices; or
(ii) domestic violence protection orders; and
(v) any other proceedings that involve the determination of a criminal charge for the purposes of Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Criminal proceedings: specified individual
10. An individual who is or may be brought before a court or tribunal in proceedings specified in regulation 9 is a specified individual for the purposes of section 16(6) of the Act (representation for criminal proceedings).
PART 4
Advice and assistance for criminal proceedings
General
11.—(1) This Part makes provision about the making and withdrawal of determinations by the Director under section 15 of the Act (advice and assistance for criminal proceedings).
(2) Prescribed advice and assistance is to be made available to an individual described in section 15(2) of the Act if—
(a)
(a) the conditions prescribed in regulation 12 are met; and
(b)
(b) the Director has determined that the individual qualifies for advice and assistance in accordance with these Regulations (and has not withdrawn the determination).
(3) For the purposes of this regulation “prescribed advice and assistance” means advice and assistance that is available in accordance with the 2010 Standard Crime Contract.
Prescribed conditions
12.—(1) The conditions set out in paragraph (2) are prescribed for the purposes of section 15(1) of the Act.
(2) The...
To continue reading
Request your trial