Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

I will withdraw the amendment in due course, although I must say that having had the support that I have had around the House I am sorely tempted to have our first vote on this Bill tonight. But as I think that we are probably the only part of the whole of British society that is working at the moment—they certainly are not at the other end—I will resist that very strong temptation. I am about to find out what Section 4(2)(a) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 says. I believe that it says that the Government have to provide general information about the law—I will find out in a moment—so the praise with which the present Government have been lauded during the course of this debate for having raised this issue for the first time ever may be a little premature. At the same time, it is good to have it in the Bill, but not good to see it as a ““may”” rather than a ““must””. I shall start by saying to the Minister that we may well come back to this on Report, on the basis of what he said. Section 4(1) of the Access to Justice Act says, under the heading ““Community Legal Service””, that the Commission—which means the Legal Services Commission—shall, "““establish, maintain and develop a service known as the Community Legal Service for the purpose of promoting the availability to individuals of services of the descriptions specified in subsection (2) and, in particular, for securing (within the resources made available, and priorities set, in accordance with this Part) that individuals have access to services that effectively meet their needs””." We met those last words earlier today, so I will not mention them again. Subsection (2) goes on: "““The descriptions of services referred to in subsection (1) are … (a) the provision of general information about the law and legal system and the availability of legal services””," so the Government have done well to put it back into this Bill, but it is a pity that it is voluntary and not mandatory. I would like the noble Lord to tell us, either tonight or in writing, what is in the budget for this work—what is being spent on it this year and what is planned to be spent on it next year. I hope that the answer is not ““Nil””. I rather fear it might be.