Former LSC Commissioner attacks BVT proposals
From CrimeLine from Andrew Keogh
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T V Edwards LLP has today published its Response to the Consultation by the Legal Services Commission on Best Value Tendering. Signed off by its Senior Partner, Anthony Edwards who was previously a member of the Legal Services Commission responsible for the Criminal Defence Service, the Response is deeply critical of the proposals made.
A summary of the report states:
"TV Edwards LLP is wholly opposed to the proposals under consideration by the LSC. They show a frightening ignorance of the true legal aid market in crime and take risks with client care, quality, the continuing provision of specialist service, cost overruns, and the criminal justice system, that are well described as reckless
They show signs of an organisation so horrified by a need urgently to reduce costs as to have lost the ability to think clearly or in the public interest.
The proposals have no connection with best value tendering. They discount value entirely requiring only the most modest standards of quality. Firms committed to a higher standard will have to reduce their ambitions for their clients or fail. No regard is paid to the training of the future profession.
These consequences are immediate. If a firm does not obtain a contract it will be forced to close and will not be available to rescue a collapsed system”
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