Legal Aid Reform

Debate between Sarah Teather and Karl Turner

Thursday 27th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Teather (Brent Central) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered legal aid reform.

I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing the House to debate this very important issue. I am hugely grateful to the many Members who have remained in the Chamber on a Thursday afternoon even though the debate is not on a dividable motion. I offer my apology for the fact that I did not ask for a full day’s debate—clearly, there is much more desire to debate this matter than I expected when I went before the Committee.

As many in the House will know, the background to the debate is that just after the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 came into force, the Government began a new consultation, “Transforming Legal Aid.” That consultation closed on 4 June, and the Government are due to respond after the summer recess. The proposals were incredibly wide ranging and arguably more significant in some ways than those in the LASPO Act, but it looked as if the House would not get an opportunity to debate that consultation document before the Government responded. As the Government are currently proposing secondary legislation for the matter, my concern is that we may not get an opportunity to have a debate before the legislation is introduced.

Because the proposals are so complex and wide-ranging, I think it important for us to get the details right, and I therefore hope that the Minister will view the contributions of Members in all parts of the House as part of the consultation process.

I am grateful to the 31 members of all parties who supported my application to the Backbench Business Committee. I particularly thank the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy), who is a former legal aid Minister, and the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis), who I know wants to speak later about some of the constitutional implications of the proposed changes.

The fact that so many organisations, including Mind and Shelter, have contacted Members of Parliament with briefings and queries demonstrates that it is not just lawyers who are worried about these proposals.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

Is it not very disappointing that that the Justice Secretary has not bothered to come to the House today? As the hon. Lady has pointed out, the debate is very oversubscribed. More than 96,000 people signed the e-petition, and I believe that 96 Members of Parliament signed early-day motion 36. The Justice Secretary should be here.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Teather and Karl Turner

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

21. What estimate he has made of the likely size of the Sure Start children’s centre network by the end of the 2012-13 financial year.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Sarah Teather)]

Local authorities have a duty under section 5A(1) of the Childcare Act 2006 to ensure that there are sufficient children’s centres to meet local need. Many local authorities are reviewing their provision, and they must consult before making any significant changes. The situation changes constantly and it is not possible to predict accurately the position at the end of the 2012-13 financial year. The early intervention grant provides enough funding to retain a network of Sure Start children’s centres.

[Karl Turner]

The Minister recently visited Little Stars children’s centre in my constituency and was impressed by the quality and commitment of staff to the service. Will she commend the Labour council leader for prioritising Sure Start, despite the savage cuts handed to it by the Government, and urgently reconsider the Government’s decision to remove ring-fencing?

[Sarah Teather]

I very much enjoyed my visit to Hull and was extremely impressed by much of the work being done on the ground, particularly the innovative and fascinating work that a number of centres have been doing to link children’s services with health. As I have said already, I commend local authorities that are prioritising children’s services on the ground. That is certainly the message that we have given out clearly to local authorities.