Good evening. Let me begin by thanking the City of London Bureau for inviting me to address you all today. This is another opportunity for me to speak directly to users and providers of legal services and to the wider public at one time. I tend to speak mainly to lawyers. Not all my appearances in public have gone done well. In recent weeks I have been described as 'fat, balding, shambolic'. But I have had a bad press as well!
In particular, I would like to talk to you about three things:
I am content to take questions at the end of the speech.
The key role of the Department for Constitutional Affairs is summed up in the three words that underpin its work: Justice, Rights and Democracy. I think it would be fair to say that Citizens Advice Bureaux across the country are driven by increasing people's access to justice and informing them of their rights.
Those who need access to our justice system the most, often do not act to resolve a civil justice problem. Indeed, poor access to advice has consistently meant that, over the years, as you know better than I, many vulnerable individuals have suffered. Many of these people will be socially excluded, living in areas in need of renewal.
To successfully regenerate areas you have to start by tackling homelessness, and dealing with other endemic problems such as the quality of schooling and low levels of achievement by young people. Those people victim to social exclusion are often unaware of their rights and responsibilities and don't know how to access help. It is difficult to regenerate an area unless there is good access to legal services.
Citizens Advice Bureaux throughout the country are an absolutely vital conduit in reaching those people and giving them that initial assistance. I want to thank all those who work in Bureaux for their continuing endeavour. Almost 80% of those who work in Bureaux are volunteers. That is about 20,000 people who give up their precious time on a regular basis to help others. An immensely impressive contribution that is the foundation of Citizens Advice Bureaux, but is all too easy to take for granted.
The City of London CAB is, like each and every other bureau, independent and tailored to meet the needs of the local community. Rather unusually, there are two distinctly different client groups which comprise the city community. Firstly the transient city workers who pass through the square mile every day; and secondly, the relatively small group of local residents whose incomes rarely match those of their daily visitors. The former mainly require advice on employment issues, the latter on welfare benefits.
I know that the City CAB is involved in outreach work on 2 local housing estates, namely Mansell Street and Middlesex Street, and that this is a testament to their pro-active approach. But I would also like to pay tribute to their work with Barts hospital, where long-standing links are in place. In particular the assistance to social workers on the cancer team in providing guidance on benefit entitlement to both inpatients and outpatients is a great example of the strength of this particular bureau. It also demonstrates the type of particular, meaningful impact that bureaux can have on their local communities by engaging in specialist, but hugely relevant, local work.
So Citizens Advice provide access to justice on the front line. Let no one doubt the importance that Government attaches to Bureaux and their work. We have proved our commitment by providing £28.7m to Citizens Advice in the last financial year - an increase of 61% on the previous year. Bureaux themselves receive £58m of Local Authority funding and the Legal Services Commission's contracts with them are worth about £24.1m. The substantial level of public funding going in demonstrates the importance we attach to the work you do. Citizens Advice are, of course, a key part of the Community Legal Service.
Our essential aim is to increase year on year the number of people receiving suitable assistance in priority areas of law involving fundamental rights or social exclusion.
Stronger partnership working with Government does not for one moment mean any challenge to the independence of Citizens Advice. We are not always going to agree, and there is little doubt that some of the reports produced by Citizens Advice make very uncomfortable reading for Government. But we completely respect the day to day experience and insight that dealing directly with people on the front line provides, and we are listening to what you have to say about the experiences you are having.
I know that significant concerns have been expressed by Citizens Advice about elements of our publicly funded legal services. I know there is an increasing feeling that solicitors are giving up legal aid work, or lack capacity. However, as part of the LSC's bid round for new contracts to run from April 2004, over 90% of existing contractors applied to renew their contracts, with the regional range being between 89% and 99%. In London there are almost twice as many bids for contracts (over 1400) from April 2004 as there are current suppliers. These bids cover all areas of civil law. In the few small areas where there may be gaps, the LSC is working to ensure that provision is available.
The cost of legal aid has spiralled in recent years and the Government has a duty to ensure that we are getting the maximum return on our public investment. This is not simply a matter of cost saving; wider policy goals, for example increasing the number of effective criminal trials, are intertwined with controlling legal aid expenditure. We are carrying out a review of supply, demand and purchasing arrangements and we are also reviewing the regulatory framework for legal service in England and Wales. So we are gathering evidence on which to base future improvements across the board.
Another issue that has recently been in the media spotlight is the apparent existence of 'advice deserts', which I know Citizens Advice have highlighted. It is a vivid, but not entirely accurate, metaphor. Of course small areas of unmet demand may arise from time to time. Firms go out of business or leave legal aid. The LSC deals with local problems as they arise. A substantial number of firms left when the Community Legal Service was created. But collectively they did relatively little legal aid work. I do not accept that there are widespread areas without services or anything which constitutes a 'crisis'. There are not significantly more gaps now than there were in the past, and the position is not getting significantly worse. Indeed the Access to Justice reforms have enabled the LSC to focus resources better at the areas of highest need.
So there is no crisis, but we do recognise that there is unmet need in some areas in terms of the range of services available. We need to keep moving as the times change, we cannot afford to stand still on legal service provision. We need to adapt, we need to reach those people who have particular needs and are not getting them met.
I want to turn now to the Community Legal Service (CLS) and how we might go forward in light of the current Independent review. Improving justice, and access to justice, and promoting people's rights is what the Community Legal Service is all about - through ensuring that legal advice is readily available for those who most need it. We know that the Community Legal Service is not perfect, but it should be remembered that prior to its conception, services had grown in an ad-hoc, uncoordinated way, reliant on discretionary funding from local authorities, charities and central Government. There was no regular assessment of need; thus funds were not always targeted effectively.
In relative terms, the CLS is still a very new creation. But there is little doubt that it is a vast improvement on what came before. We know the CLS can be improved. We need to know how best this can be done. The independent review of the CLS, being undertaken by Matrix Research and Consultancy Ltd, is due to report in April, and will give us some of the answers. The Review will evaluate how the Community Legal Service has impacted on the accessibility of legal advice services at a local level, the quality of those services, and the ways in which policy development has affected the targeting of resources to achieve agreed outcomes within communities.
The recent Citizens Advice 'Partnership Potential' and 'Geography of Advice' reports have been fed into the independent review of the CLS, with officials from my Department attending the linked seminars and taking a close interest in the information collected.
We know that Citizens Advice have expressed concerns about the Community Legal Service and pinpointed several areas where they feel improvements can be made. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on these specific suggestions prior to the Independent Review's report being published. However I would stress again, that the most important thing for both Citizens Advice and ourselves is to improve the CLS in light of the review.
Citizens Advice are key stakeholders in the CLS and it is essential that we build on our existing relationship if we want to assist more people. An example of one area where the Government is working closely with Citizens Advice is in developing the new 'Case' Management system. About £20m of Treasury funding has gone into the project. I know that the roll-out is taking longer than we all would have liked, but those here at City CAB have made excellent progress in this regard and the detailed information that is collected will enable us all to provide more effectively targeted services.
A great variety of providers now deliver advice and guidance services, and I want to pay tribute to them all, especially to those in the voluntary sector, for their immense contribution to the CLS. Not for profit organisations that we work with through the LSC (which now number around 450) provide a much valued service. We are keen to further strengthen our links with the not for profit sector in the future. The role of the voluntary sector is increasingly valued by Government and my Department wants to continue to improve and make increased use of the sector's expertise and knowledge in the advice and guidance field.
It is on this encouraging note that I wish to conclude. I feel very confident that the independent review of the Community Legal Service will provide us with a blueprint for making vast improvements to the current system. Closer and more effective partnership between ourselves and Citizens Advice in that context will allow us to deliver a higher quality of legal service to those in most need.
Thank you all for your time this evening.