Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

My Lords, it is warming to find a clause in the Bill that has such general approval. Amendment 3 seeks to amend Clause 1(3) to make the power of the Lord Chancellor in relation to the provision of information a duty. This amendment is not appropriate. The duties of the Lord Chancellor under this Bill relate to the provision of legal aid for those who qualify for it in accordance with Part 1. In contract, this subsection is aimed in particular at enabling the Lord Chancellor to direct those ineligible for legal aid to other sources of advice. In the future this may include the provision of referral to paid-for advice through a telephone helpline service. The Government have decided not to implement the proposal at this stage, but intend to run a pilot scheme. The intention is that any individual who is seeking legally aided services but is ineligible for legal aid advice could be signposted to other sources of advice that may be able to assist them in their problem. However, to create a duty in this regard would be too onerous and potentially very costly as a duty implies a far greater requirement to provide an all encompassing service. In a sense, the debate has covered demands for that much broader service, but I still maintain that we cannot make this a bounden duty on the Lord Chancellor. However, it takes us in a direction that is interesting so far as this debate is concerned and, indeed, in the way our legal services are being developed. Some of the issues raised by the noble Lord, Lord Bach, and my noble friend Lord Phillips go far beyond the responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice and of the Bill about the rights and responsibilities of the citizen in our society. However, I accept that it is sensible to address the need for a better understanding of how the justice system works and allow the citizen a more fully understood access to it. In a way, the Government might learn a lot from the way in which television and e-commerce manage to connect with the citizen. We cannot get people to vote in general elections or local elections, but they are very eager to vote on ““The X Factor”” and ““Strictly Come Dancing””. People can connect with a process. I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Phillips and the Citizenship Foundation. It is important that we try to get those connections with our society through education. Sometimes, we can become too bleak about the idea of a disaffected youth. Before I got this job, I was involved in the outreach programme, going round talking to sixth-formers and often came away inspired by the commitment of young people. It is not such a bad generation; we sometimes forget that. I was in the Chamber for the tail-end of the dinner-hour debate and was delighted to see a Law Commission recommendation carried through. I am the MoJ Minister responsible for liaison with the Law Commission and pay tribute to its retiring head, Lord Justice Munby, who has done an excellent job. However, I take the point made the other day by the noble Lord, Lord Richard, that too many Law Commission reports end up gathering dust on the shelves. Whatever I can do on my watch to push forward Law Commission reports, I will certainly do, particularly now that we have an accelerated system within the Lords for dealing with these matters. On the broader question that the noble Lords, Lord Bach and Lord Howarth, referred to, I am the Minister for Digital and am working closely with my right honourable friend Angus Maude.