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The All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid (APPG on Legal Aid) was formally established at an inaugural meeting on 15 July 2009 in Parliament. The APPG was established by its chair, Karen Buck MP, and is sponsored by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) and Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL). The Group was established in response to practitioner concerns about the availability of legal services to vulnerable members of society and the lack of parliamentary scrutiny of current legal aid reform.

The APPG’s terms of reference are as follows:

“To promote parliamentary and public understanding of the importance of the role of publicly funded legal services as a pillar of the welfare state and in reducing inequalities in society. To scrutinize and influence any proposals for the reform of Legal Aid provision to ensure that access to justice for all members of society is preserved and improved.”

Legal aid provision is going through a period of profound change which has created instability in the industry and threatens the future of quality legal advice and representation for those who cannot afford to pay.

MPs know from their weekly surgeries that there is still much unmet need for free legal advice. The APPG is concerned that the perceived complexities of the current debate have detracted from the essential issue of access to justice for those at risk of social exclusion.

All the recent reforms to legal aid have been introduced through statutory instruments without debate in Parliament. This lack of scrutiny has been a source of great frustration for many who have been supportive of the Access to Justice campaign but who see little practical way of influencing the reform process. It is hoped that this APPG will help to rectify this, acting as a forum for discussion of social exclusion issues surrounding legal aid and helping to promote the work that many legal aid practices carry out as the fourth emergency service.