Draft Programme for Government Submission

We submitted a comprehensive response the Draft Programme for Government consultation which closed earlier this week. We broadly welcomed the publication of the draft programme following a long period of political stalemate.

Our response spoke to four of the nine priorities within the programme that were most relevant to our work. These included:

• Building a Globally Competitive and Sustainable Economy, where the importance of upholding the rule of law was highlighted. There was also acknowledgement of the role barristers play in the development of the NI economy and the need for improvement around the efficiency and effectiveness of the legal system and upholding the importance and quality of the legal system.
• Ending Violence against Women and Girls, noting the prevalence of violence against women and girls in this jurisdiction, the lack of reference to civil justice procedures was flagged along with the role that government funding plays in enabling effective legal advice in both criminal and civil proceedings and ensuring access to justice for victim-survivors.
• In responding to the ensuring Safer Communities priority we raised the issue of renumeration (specifically that criminal legal aid fees have not been adjusted since 2015). Broader issues with recruitment and retention, and delayed payments to practitioners were also included. Consideration of the digital gap when advancing digital transformation of the Courts and Tribunals was also recommended.
• Chronic and historic underfunding of the Justice system was cited again as part of our response to Reform and Transformation of Public Service. We support for the Executive’s aim to look at “what we do, why we do it, and how we do it” as this echoes the argument of the human value of legal aid.

Read the submission in full here.