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Further consultation on judicial review
On 6 September, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling used an article in the Daily Mail to justify his proposals to reform the judicial review system (see also page 3 of this issue). In the article he claimed that campaigners were ‘taking over charities’ and that they ‘articulate a left-wing vision which is neither affordable nor deliverable’, using judicial review as part of their campaigning tactics.
Responding to his comments, Kevin Curley CBE, a voluntary sector adviser and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA), said that it was ‘clear that Chris Grayling understands the importance of judicial review’ to put right decisions which the state gets wrong and this is why ‘it is so important that we defend it’. While he was CEO at NAVCA, the charity ran a project for six years, funded by the Big Lottery Fund, to educate the voluntary sector about the use of public law. Case studies from the project included women in Ealing, London, who were victims of sexual violence, deaf children in Stoke-on-Trent and disabled people in Birmingham, all of whom, according to Kevin Curley, would have lost access to vital services if they had not had recourse to affordable judicial review proceedings. ‘Is this really what Grayling wants? It’s a strange and ugly ambition for a secretary of state’, he told LAG.
The proposals on legal aid in the latest consultation on judicial review are based on those included previously in the first legal aid consultation published in April. The consultation ends at midnight on 1 November 2013.