Citizens Advice Bureaux (Birmingham)
Debate between Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston and Jack Dromey(13 years, 9 months ago)
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Jack Dromey
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. She brings to this debate the wisdom and experience of her many years in the CAB. Her contribution is welcome, and she is right to bring home once again the consequences of what the Government are doing.
On the folly of the cuts, interesting independent academic research has demonstrated that every £1 invested in advice yields a return of up to £10 because early intervention produces the best results. What will happen—it is as simple as this—is that the CAB and other advice services will be run down and closed, and there will be greater risk of debt, homelessness, poverty, mental health problems and relationship breakdown simply because tried and tested services upon which people depend at a time of need have gone.
Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend, as a fellow Birmingham MP, share my experience? The two agencies that I rely on most heavily when constituents come to my advice surgeries are the CAB and the Immigration Advisory Service. The CAB is a source of reliable, independent advice, and there is no alternative. If we lose it, our people will lose.
Jack Dromey
My hon. Friend speaks from her great experience in Birmingham, Edgbaston. She is absolutely right: these services, including the one for immigration, are vital. The question then arises—Ministers will have to answer it—of where people will go if the fabric of our advice services is torn apart. As I shall say in a moment, it is not just the CAB; a total of 13 services will close in Birmingham.