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Carter Review

I thank the hon. and learned Lady for her statement, and Lord Carter for his work on the review. I also commend the process so far, which has involved an extremely good level of consultation. I am heartened by the Minister’s earlier confirmation that the further consultation process will be genuine, and that comments will be welcomed and taken on board. The importance of legal aid is worth underlining yet again. It is a key part of the welfare state, although we probably talk about it less than any other. The squeeze on legal aid budgets over recent years is not the result of inefficiencies in the system: it is largely due to the increase in business caused by the wide panoply of new offences and the increased number of prosecutions taking place. That is what is driving the increase in criminal aid, which in turn has squeezed the availability for legal aid in the civil and family courts. The squeeze on legal aid is causing great concern, as access to legal aid is an essential part of a fair and free society. I hope that all hon. Members will agree with that, and that the report’s proposals will increase access to legal aid. The Minister said that she felt there would be no deterioration in the position of high street practitioners. I hope that she is right, but legal aid in the more rural areas—and in some cities too—is in a parlous state, with those practitioners who offer criminal legal aid, for instance, being very few and far between. For instance, it is common for there to be only one criminal solicitor available to deal with a particular magistrates court. We therefore have to do something to encourage more practices to release practitioners to do criminal legal aid and to undertake work in the family courts. I have a few quick questions for the Minister. First, she was right to emphasise the need for better organisation in our courts, and one factor in that is the court’s proximity to the people attending it. Travel to court is a key part of the costs incurred by practitioners, defendants, witnesses and victims. Centralising court facilities leads to an apparent cost saving, but there is a real cost to the people seeking justice. The two need to be in balance, as justice is being taken away from people in many rural communities because courts are being closed down. Will the Minister ensure that the financial incentives to finish cases quickly do not prejudice the standard of justice in courts? That is an obvious point but it is terribly important so it is necessary to make it. Will the Government guarantee that defendants can be represented by the same good local lawyer from the beginning to the end of proceedings? That may or may not be implicit in the arrangements as they develop. Can we make sure that lawyers undertaking publicly funded work have sufficient recompense to attract them to such posts rather than going into private practice? The hon. and learned Lady may have partly answered that question already. Lastly, to pick up the point made by the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart), a process of audit of advice and legal services is needed and Members of Parliament have a critical part to play in it. Often, advice deserts are not in the most deprived communities. The worst thing of all is to be a poor person in a rich community, who does not have access to transport and to high-cost support and will be very much excluded if we are not careful. The hon. and learned Lady’s Department needs to work closely with the Minister for Social Exclusion to ensure that a proper audit system is in place. MPs could play a useful part in that process, so will she consider that?