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The Act disestablished the Legal Services Agency, transferred the administration of legal aid to the Ministry of Justice and created the new position of Legal Services Commissioner. This person is an employee of the Ministry.
The Commissioner has a number of functions which must be carried out independently of the Ministry, including:
granting legal aid
determining legal aid repayments
assigning legal aid providers or services
allocating legal aid cases to salaried lawyers, overseeing their conduct and managing their performance.