Justice: Legal Advice

Lord Bach Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Bach]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the consequences for access to justice for those who will not be able to receive free legal advice on social welfare law matters from 1 April.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

My Lords, these matters were assessed as part of the impact assessments, which were published alongside the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

[Lord Bach]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply as far as it goes but I do not think it is very full on detail. It is now only 21 days until civil legal aid effectively disappears, affecting access to justice for perhaps hundreds of thousands of people every year. What do Her Majesty’s Government think will happen to the disabled person, for example, who wants to appeal his or her Atos decision, or the person who needs housing advice but cannot get it because the local Shelter housing advice centre has been forced to close, as today’s newspapers report? What are the Government’s contingency plans when unadvised and unrepresented clients flood courts and tribunals? No one can say the Government have not been warned, all the way from the very top of the legal system to small charities that are at breaking point. What will the Government do when it all goes wrong?

[Lord McNally]

My Lords, we are working on some of these issues. We are working with the judiciary to improve guidelines for people representing themselves in court. We are developing a new online information service to help people find out if they are eligible for legal aid or signpost them to other services. We are giving £65 million of funding to help not-for-profit social welfare advice providers to adapt and transition over the next two years. We are also encouraging innovations in the legal services market, such as the provision of lower-cost advice services to help people in resolving their problems.