LAG - Best Value Tendering - October 2009.pdf
91.54 kB
Can best value tending work in criminal legal aid?
09/10/2009
In an article for LAG magazine (October 2009) GCN's Sarah Daley argues that best value tendering (BVT) will not work in criminal legal aid because the nature of the service is completely unsuited to it. The article compares and contrasts the nature of the service with primary health care, where BVT has been in operation since April 2004.
Extracts from the article:
"An analysis of the actual system through which criminal legal aid services will be delivered demonstrates that the BVT scheme will not deliver quality services which are sustainable, self regulating or cost-effective.......
The health of our legal aid service is something too valuable to gamble with by introducing BVT in criminal legal aid. While the LSC plays at creating a market and dabbling in the complex areas of commissioning, our most fundamental value of liberty is at stake....."
For more details about this article please contact Paula Morris on 0161 236 1840.
