Section 1: extent of duty to fund advice and assistance
26.Subsection (1)provides that section 13(1) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 has effect as if it had been enacted as amended by the Act. It seeks to remedy the apparent deficiencies in section 13, by amending it -
to make it clear that the assistance that the Commission may consider it appropriate to fund under section 13 does include advocacy;
to add to the classes of individual in respect of whom the Commission may, in prescribed circumstances, fund advice and assistance.
27.Advocacy is used in the amendment to section 13(1) to avoid possible confusion with representation as defined in section 26 of the Access to Justice Act 1999. It was not considered necessary to define advocacy.
28.Subsection (2) makes clear that regulations made under the amended section 13(1) may also have retrospective effect.