invest to save funding re legal aid project

Summary

The requester asked for the approved business case regarding the 'Invest to Save' legal aid project, but the Attorney General's Chambers responded that the information is not held by them.

Key Facts

• The requested information was not held by the Attorney General's Chambers.
• The Invest to Save project was administered by the Treasury, not the AGC.
• The Legal Aid Project was a suggestion made to the Treasury under the SAVE scheme.
• Proof of concept work was published on the Tynwald website.
• Policy determination for legal aid is the statutory role of the Legal Aid Committee.

Data Disclosed

• 2176273
• 2022-01-06
• 2022-02-03
• page 19
• Freedom of Information Act 2015

Original Request

Please release the approved business case re the invest to save funding re the legal aid project to better understand the key factors and projected cost savings given the situation that professionals with world class CVs have been repeatedly and disgracefully forced to consider remortgage etc funding options simply to act in the public interest and yet potentially pivotal information is not available within the whistleblowing policy regulatory framework to encourage whistleblowers to consider civil legal aid if they would pass the financial means test and legal merits test.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Attorney General's Chambers 2nd floor Belgravia House Circular Road, Douglas Isle of Man, IM1 1AE Telephone: (01624) 685452 E-mail: attgen@gov.im

Our ref: 2176273 3 February 2022

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 6 January 2022, which states:

"Please release the approved business case re the invest to save funding re the legal aid project to better understand the key factors and projected cost savings given the situation that professionals with world class CVs have been repeatedly and disgracefully forced to consider remortgage etc funding options simply to act in the public interest and yet potentially pivotal information is not available within the whistleblowing policy regulatory framework to encourage whistleblowers to consider civil legal aid if they would pass the financial means test and legal merits test."

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested.

The Invest to Save project was administered by the Treasury, who may be able to provide you with further assistance. The reason that the AGC does not hold a Business Case on the Legal Aid Project is as follows. The Legal Aid Project was undertaken by HM Attorney General and AGC, on behalf of Treasury, and started out as a suggestion made to the Treasury under the SAVE scheme. HM Attorney General, as requested by the Treasury identified the possibility of a potential financial saving being made through the creation of a Public Defender Unit or similar service, to provide legal representation for defendants facing criminal charges in the Isle of Man instead of providing legal aid. Whilst the proof of concept work was undertaken by the Treasury and published on the Tynwald website here (see page 19 for the PDU), at a very early stage it became apparent that a more detailed level of work would need to be undertaken and there would need to be significant stakeholder consultation informing the policy research, before a sound business case to reform legal aid could even begin to emerge and for it to be known if any reforms could be identified.
In any event, AGC does not determine policy in respect of legal aid as that is a statutory role of the Legal Aid Committee, which now has the late Attorney General’s submission to consider.

Please quote the reference number 2176273 in any future communications.

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