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The Chief Executive in Council has approved the Government's legislative proposals to improve the criteria for assessing the financial eligibility of legal aid applicants, thus enabling more people to become financially eligible for legal aid.
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Bureau said, "The Government has completed the five-yearly review of the criteria for assessing the financial eligibility of legal aid applicants. In response to calls from the community, and having considered views from the Legal Aid Services Council, the Legislative Council (LegCo) and the legal profession, the Government will implement a package of improvement measures to bring about improved eligibility criteria for legal aid applicants."
The legislative proposals will help implement these new criteria, which include:
(a) the median monthly household expenditure be used to replace the 35-percentile household expenditure as a deductible component in calculating disposable income of legal aid applicants;
(b) an amount equivalent to the financial eligibility limit (FEL) of the Ordinary Legal Aid Scheme (OLAS) be disregarded from the savings of the elderly legal aid applicants who have reached the age of 60, irrespective of their employment status, when calculating their disposable capital; and
(c) the FEL for OLAS be raised from the present $175,800 to $260,000 and that for the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme (SLAS) from $488,400 to $1.3 million.
To implement the improvement measures, it is necessary to amend the Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources and Contributions) Regulation and move a resolution to amend sections 5 and 5A of the Legal Aid Ordinance (Cap. 91) in the LegCo.
"With the new legislative proposals, the criteria for assessing the financial eligibility of legal aid applicants are relaxed. This will enable more people to become financially eligible for legal aid," the spokesman added.
The legislative proposals will be discussed by the LegCo Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services on February 28.
Ends/Monday, February 21, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:07
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