Lord Dubs
Main Page: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Baroness Northover
The IAS was audited and the Legal Services Commission identified potential overclaims representing millions of pounds. That is what has led to this train of events. The LSC is working very hard to transfer cases and is prioritising the most vulnerable first, among them cases of unaccompanied children claiming asylum and cases coming up to tribunal immediately. A large number of people working in this area are prepared to take on this work, which is very encouraging for making a smooth transfer and making sure that clients are well looked after in this situation.
Lord Dubs
Is there not a danger that with the cutback in money for legal aid, it is not possible for other organisations to fill the gap left by the Immigration Advisory Service? Is not the real problem that asylum seekers will be caught in limbo, possibly becoming destitute because there is no one to represent them properly?
Baroness Northover
This is a problem in the IAS, which projected that it would have a return profit of £500,000 even with the proposed legal aid reforms. This is not an issue about legal aid reforms but a problem in the IAS: a large debt that it cannot address and which the Legal Services Commission has decided should not be written off. Many other organisations want to take on this work. Carolyn Downs, the chief executive of the Legal Services Commission, said in the other place yesterday:
“we have a huge number of people contacting us who are prepared to take on that work”.—[Official Report, Commons, Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill Committee, 12/7/11; col. 72.]