To conduct a review of civil justice and legal aid to consider whether existing proposals for reform are the right way to deliver the following objectives:
to reduce the cost, delay and complexity of civil litigation; and
to gain better control of the cost of legal aid, better value for money for the resources available, and the ability to target those resources on the areas of greatest need.
To make recommendations on whether the current proposals are workable, whether they are likely to be cost-effective, what the priorities should be for their implementation (where appropriate), and whether there are alternative approaches that ought to be examined further. In particular, the review is to consider :
whether the civil justice reforms can be implemented without imposing costs which outweigh savings both for potential litigants and the courts;
the means by which the cost of legal aid can be kept within limits which society can afford and is willing to pay in the context of the overall public expenditure ceilings to which the Government is committed, while giving full weight to the important values of legal aid as a rights- based entitlement equally available throughout the country;
the interaction between the two reform programmes, including the costs/benefits of civil justice reforms to the legal aid fund, and the extent to which legal aid systems can reinforce the objectives of the civil justice reforms; and
how far relevant aspects of the reforms (for example involving the not-for-profit sector, information services, use of ADR) might be developed to lay the foundations for a Community Legal Service.