Counsel Magazine

ACCESS to justice is at risk as the Government ploughs on with its reckless approach to Best Value Tendering said the Law Society, the Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association as they submitted their responses to the Legal Services Commission's consultation paper on Best Value Tendering (BVT) for certain legal aid services. The Law Society, the Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association are all gravely concerned about BVT as currently proposed by the LSC.

The consultation paper was issued in March 2009, and proposes a limited BVT scheme which would cover lower crime work in police stations and the Magistrates' Courts. This would probably be extended should it prove successful.