Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Baroness Morgan of Cotes and Jonathan Djanogly(12 years, 6 months ago)
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Mr Djanogly
As I said, there is a difference between legal advice and general advice. We are investing in general advice.
Nicky Morgan (Loughborough) (Con)
Charnwood citizens advice bureau works very closely with my office in Loughborough on benefits matters. Will the Minister, when he has such discussions, tell the Department for Work and Pensions that it needs to simplify the benefits system as that would be of great assistance in helping to keep some cases away from the legal system and administrative tribunals in the first place?
Mr Djanogly
I agree with my hon. Friend and can confirm that we are working very closely with the Department for Work and Pensions as part of its wider welfare reform programme to improve the quality and effectiveness of initial decision taking.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Baroness Morgan of Cotes and Jonathan Djanogly(13 years, 7 months ago)
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Nicky Morgan (Loughborough) (Con)
7. What plans he has for the size of his Department’s budget for civil legal aid.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Jonathan Djanogly)
We published impact assessments alongside our reform proposals setting out their potential financial implications. We estimated that the savings to civil legal aid would be around £255 million by 2014-15. Total civil legal aid expenditure was around £900 million in 2008-09.
Nicky Morgan (Loughborough) (Con)
We all appreciate the need to make savings, but citizens advice bureaux, including the Charnwood CAB in my constituency, play an important role—hon. Members on both sides of the House have drawn attention to their CABs. Mention has been made of the difference between legal and general help. May I suggest that the Minister consider, with the Department for Work and Pensions, simplifying the length of the forms that people need to fill in? The CAB currently helps benefits claimants who sometimes have to fill in forms of up to 52 pages in length.
Mr Djanogly
Yes, I can confirm to my hon. Friend that we are in discussions with the Department for Work and Pensions on exactly that matter, and more generally on improving early intervention, so that preferably people will not need to go to a tribunal at all.