"Part V" project for disabled in Lanarkshire
30 Oct 06
Scottish Legal Aid Board employs solicitor to boost local advice services
The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has launched a new project aimed at providing specialist legal advice to clients with disabilities in Lanarkshire through a "Part V" employed solicitor.
With funds made available by the Scottish Executive under Part V of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986, SLAB has appointed solicitor Anthony Horan to work with Citizens Advice Scotland, Capability Scotland, Update (Scotland’s national disability information service) and the Disability Rights Commission to respond to the identified lack of access by disabled people to legal advice in Lanarkshire, and to improve local advisers' knowledge of relevant legal issues.
Mr Horan’s position will be funded initially for two years and will cover the whole of Lanarkshire. Based at the South Lanarkshire Disability Forum in Hamilton, he will be responsible for providing the secondary advice service and training programme for advice agency staff and local solicitors, as well as taking on his own limited amount of legal aid casework.
It is estimated that about 23% of the population in Lanarkshire have a disability or long-term illness (above the national average of 20%), and that they may benefit from improved legal advice relating to issues such as the Disability Discrimination Act, housing and community care.
Recent research has shown that up until now, only a very limited specialist disability legal advice service has been available anywhere in Scotland. The research states that a key barrier to disabled people exercising their rights is advice agency advisers’ lack of knowledge of legal issues relating to disability, coupled with a lack of in-depth advice and support for representation on areas of law which particularly affect disabled people.
Lindsay Montgomery, chief executive of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, said: “The board is delighted to be supporting this innovative legal advice project, which sees us continue to open up access to legal advice by delivering services in new and different ways and in non-traditional settings. I look forward to seeing improvements in the availability of legal advice for clients with disabilities and for the agencies trying to assist them."
Anthony Horan said: "With improved communication and co-operation between agencies and the commercial sector we can hope to increase accessibility and availability of such services to the benefit of clients with disabilities across the region."