We have identified the following three areas as ones where there is the need for additional work. It is by no means a comprehensive list, but the three areas are ones where others may wish to become engaged and ensure that legal and advice services are integrated fully into social inclusion agendas.
The case studies provide strong anecdotal evidence of the important social role played by legal and advice services. They provide the all-important human dimension, and show what it means to the quality of the life of the people involved, and how it helps them and their families to improve their personal circumstances through achieving justice. However, this vital contribution is very difficulty to quantify. There are no means yet of measuring the contribution which legal and advice services, through the CLS, make to tackling social problems.
We do not know the overall public expenditure savings that are gained from timely advice and help with potential or actual legal problems. However, there are forms of proxy measurements through the levels of CLS funding in the priority social welfare categories of Legal Help. Information about CLS funding in one of the categories could be used in conjunction with other sets of relevant social data, to provide a thorough statistical analysis of the impact of this expenditure on the individual and the state, and the wider effect upon society of justice being seen to have been done. We propose that a working group is set up and led by LCD, with representation from other departments, the LSC, local government, and legal and advice services, to take forward this work.
The outcome of the working group would be a far more rigorous and accurate measurement of the contribution made by legal and advice services, and the effectiveness of the CLS. This analysis could be linked by the working group with the work for LCD's Service Delivery Agreement target to "… determine, by April 2002, a method of measuring results achieved in Legal Help contracts against average cost per case, and develop a Value For Money target for these contracts."
Legal and advice services, especially those in the voluntary sector, rely upon funding from a range of sources. This has developed for historical reasons, and more recently because of project funding, and it is arguable that this has safeguarded the independence of legal and advice services. It is important that this independence continues. However, to provide better planning of future services and greater stability, the CLS Partnerships will provide a key framework for co-ordination of funding.
The Government, through the Legal Services Commission, is increasingly using the CLS Partnerships to underpin its main programme spending on legal and advice services. Most local authorities in England and Wales have also recognised the value of using the partnerships. However, other central government departments and other public agencies also provide funding and support for legal and advice services, such as in particular categories like housing or to particular groups like young people, the disabled and so on. It is proposed there should be a survey of central government spending on legal and advice services lead by LCD, and involving relevant departments, in the course of 2002 followed by a commitment to use the needs assessments carried out by CLS Partnerships as a basis for spending wherever possible. The needs assessments will enable departments to know that the funding is best meeting the needs and priorities of local communities.
It is mutually beneficial if legal and advice services are properly integrated into social inclusion agendas. It is important that Local Strategic Partnerships and local neighbourhood managers are aware of the local legal and advice services and the expert help they can provide for local people and communities. The CLS Partnerships provide the contact point with which Local Strategic Partnership and neighbourhood managers can form links. The Government is encouraging stronger links between Local Strategic Partnerships and CLS Partnerships, but if this is really going to make a difference, there needs to be commitment by key stakeholders at the local level. LCD will be working with other departments, the Government Offices and its other partners, to help ensure these links are made. Apart from CLS representation on the Local Strategic Partnership, we would encourage the development of joint projects and the active involvement of legal and advice services in local neighbourhood renewal programmes.
Similarly, we are keen to see further links formed between legal and advice services and initiatives such as Job Centre Plus, Connexions, New Deal, New Deal for Communities, Care Direct, Sure Start, Crime and Disorder Partnerships, Education Action Zones and Health Action Zones. This is already happening in some areas because of the work of individual agencies or the CLS Partnerships. However, we would like to see such links being made in other parts of the country because of the overlap of interest and benefits from closer co-operation and joint working. Other examples of potential links include the ONE initiative and its work on debt counselling, and how Job Centre Plus could work with local legal and advice services, through the CLS, as a way of helping provide an improved service to benefits claimants. Again, LCD will be working with other departments and partners to ensure these links are made locally.
This is not a consultation paper, but a document designed to highlight the important role that legal and advice services can play in tackling social exclusion. However, if you have any comments or suggestions for further action, please contact one of the following:
Robert Gill
Public Legal Services Division
Lord Chancellor's Department
Selborne House
54-60 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6QW
E-mail: Robert Gill
Tel: 020 7210 8710
Lynn Evans
Social Policy Officer
Law Centres Federation
Duchess House
8-19 Warren Street
London W1P 5DB
E-mail: lynn@lawcentres.org.uk
Tel: 020 7387 8570
We have also attached at annex D and annex E respectively, details of the Legal Services Commission regional contacts and Law Centres around the country. You may wish to make contact with them if you have ideas for forming local links or potential participation in future projects.
