Access to Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2003

Services which may be funded

12.—(1) The Commission shall set priorities in its funding of civil legal services, and the priorities shall be set—

(a) in accordance with any directions given by the Lord Chancellor, and

(b) after taking into account the need for such services.

(2) The Commission may fund civil legal services by—

(a) entering into contracts with persons or bodies for the provision of services by them,

(b) making payments to persons or bodies in respect of the provision of services by them,

(c) making grants or loans to persons or bodies to enable them to provide, or facilitate the provision of, services,

(d) establishing and maintaining bodies to provide, or facilitate the provision of, services,

(e) making grants or loans to individuals to enable them to obtain services,

(f) itself providing services, or

(g) doing anything else which it considers appropriate for funding services,

but this paragraph is subject to Article 41.

(3) The Lord Chancellor may by order require the Commission to discharge the function in paragraph (2) in accordance with the order.

(4) The Commission may fund different civil legal services, or civil legal services provided by different means—

(a) in relation to different areas in Northern Ireland, and

(b) in relation to different descriptions of cases.

(5) The Commission may not fund as civil legal services any of the services specified in Schedule 2.

(6) Regulations may amend Schedule 2 by adding new services or omitting or varying any services; and regulations under this paragraph may, in particular, describe the services which are not to be funded as civil legal services by reference to—

(a) the court or tribunal before which proceedings are to take place,

(b) the issues involved, or

(c) the capacity in which a person seeking a service is concerned.

(7) If the effect of regulations amending Schedule 2 under paragraph (6) is that no advice or assistance of any description is to be funded as regards any area, then, so long as Schedule 2 so provides, Article 14(2)(b), 3(b), (6) and (7), and the words “advice, assistance and” in Article 10(1), shall not have effect.

(8) The Lord Chancellor—

(a) may by direction require the Commission to fund the provision of any of the services specified in Schedule 2 in circumstances specified in the direction, and

(b) may authorise the Commission to fund the provision of any of those services in circumstances specified in the authorisation or, if the Commission requests him to do so, in an individual case so specified.

(9) A direction or authorisation under paragraph (8) may impose limitations on the funding of a service specified in Schedule 2, and may, in particular, require or authorise the Commission to fund the service for a limited period, for the purposes of specified proceedings only, or for the purposes of limited aspects of proceedings.

(10) Articles 13 to 20 do not apply to civil legal services funded under a direction or authorisation under paragraph (8) unless they are applied (with or without modifications) by the provisions of the direction or authorisation.

(11) The Lord Chancellor shall either—

(a) publish, or

(b) require the Commission to publish,

any authorisation under paragraph (8)(b), unless it relates to an individual case (in which case he or the Commission may publish it if appropriate).