text_body: --- DIVISION TITLE ---
  
  Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill - New Clause 17 - Extension of Scope of Legal Aid
  
  --- MOTION EFFECT ---
  
  @ MP voted aye to make legal aid available to cover the entirety of assistance required where people are deemed to have complex, interconnected needs, some of which do not usually attract aid.
  @ MP voted no against making legal aid available to cover the entirety of assistance required where people are deemed to have complex, interconnected needs, some of which do not usually attract aid.
  
  The majority of MPs voted against making legal aid available to cover the entirety of assistance required where people are deemed to have complex, interconnected needs, some of which do not usually attract aid.
  
  The MP who proposed the new clause rejected in this vote, Yvonne Fovargue, explained she would like to see legal aid funding advisors to assist people with their problems, holistically, at a "one-stop shop"[1]:
  
  :It is impossible to deal with one issueâfor example, electricity disconnectionâwithout dealing with problems such as tax credit underpayment and illegal deduction of wages. It is the natural state of affairs that one problem leads to another, and the merit of not-for-profit agencies dealing with that cluster is the availability of specialisms in a one-stop shop, and the ability to drill down to the root cause of the issue, which may be wrongful refusal of benefits or unfair dismissal leading to debt issues and potential homelessness.
  
  
  MPs were considering the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill[2]. The text of the proposed new clause rejected by this vote was:
  
  :Extension of scope of legal aid in complex cases
  
  :â(1) Civil legal services other than services described in Part 1 of Schedule 1 are to be available to an individual under this Part if subsection (2) is satisfied.
  
  :(2) This subsection is satisfied where the Directorâ
  
  :(a) has made a complex case determination in relation to the individual and the services, and
  
  :(b) has determined that the individual qualifies for the services in accordance with this Part, (and has not withdrawn either determination).
  
  :(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), a complex case determination is a determinationâ
  
  :(a) that the individual has complex, interconnected needs in relation to which the individual requires comprehensive civil legal services, and
  
  :(b) not all of those civil legal services would otherwise be available to the individual because they do not all fall within the scope of Schedule 1.â.
  
  
  ==
  
  * [1] [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2011-11-02a.951.4#g962.0 Yvonne Fovargue MP, (Makerfield, Labour), House of Commons, 2 November 2011]
  * [2] [http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/legalaidsentencingandpunishmentofoffenders.html Parliament's webpage on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (now an Act)] 
  
  --- COMMENTS AND NOTES ---
  
  (put thoughts and notes for other researchers here)
  