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Legal Aid (Amendment) Bill 1996
Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan, in moving the second reading of Legal Aid (Amendment) Bill 1996, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I move that the Legal Aid (Amendment) Bill 1996 be read the second time. The Bill primarily aims to increase the financial eligibility limits for the legal aid schemes operated by the Legal Aid Department.
As stated in our Policy Commitment published with the Governor's 1995 Policy Address, we are committed to reviewing the financial eligibility limits for the standard legal aid scheme and the self-financing Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme operated by the Legal Aid Department every two years to take account of inflation.
We have recently completed a review of the financial eligibility limits and propose that they be revised in line with inflation. We have also taken the opportunity to review the monetary amounts that may be waived by the Director of Legal Aid under the Ordinance, and propose that they be also revised in line with inflation. I now outline briefly the major elements of the Bill.
Clauses 2 and 3 of the Bill provide for increases in the financial eligibility limits for both the standard legal aid scheme and the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme. The increases are in line with the accumulated inflation rate of 17.9% for the period from July 1994, when the amounts were last reviewed, to June 1996. This will mean that the financial eligibility limit for applicants under the standard legal aid scheme will be increased from $144,000 to $169,700 and the lower and upper financial eligibility limits for the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme will be increased from the present $144,000 and $400,000 to $169,700 and $471,600 respectively,
Clause 4 provides that the amount of payment of maintenance for a spouse or former spouse that may be exempted from the Director's first charge be revised from $4,100 per month to $4,800 per month.
Clause 5 provides that the maximum amount that may be reduced by the Director under section 19B(1)(a) be increased from $30,000 to $57,400. This is in line with the accumulated inflation rate of 91.4% for the period from July 1989, when the amount was last reviewed, to June 1996.