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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I, too, strongly support the amendment, and I should like to explore a few of the circumstances around it. Like the noble Lord, Lord Judd, I deplore any suggestion that funds are not available to give the people we are discussing what is their right as citizens. Tomorrow, the Independent Asylum Commission, of which I am a commissioner, will launch a report in which one of our findings is exactly the same; that is, that a lack of provision of legal aid is affecting a number of asylum seekers. I see a parallel in young offenders and the number of complaints that they make. People say that they do not make complaints, but that is not so. As one finds when talking to them, they are not guided, aided and enabled to make complaints, or put in the way of making them. The numbers that the noble Earl read out suggest that hidden among the quarter of young people being charged who are not applying is a large number who should and would qualify if the means were made available to them. I wonder whether the numbers are known and, if not, why not. Surely we should have a better understanding of what it means in financial as well as legal terms. Should it be the responsibility of the Youth Justice Board to find out? I do not know. I am concerned that the Youth Justice Board appears slightly to have lost its way by failing to provide leadership on a large number of issues connected with youth justice, of which this may be one. There may be a legal way of doing it—I am not an expert on this and do not know—but it is important to establish the facts so that we know what is involved. We should then look at the procedures to make certain that as many qualified young people as possible are put in the way of getting the help they require. Surely that will have an impact on the justice they receive, and therefore on the outcome—which, as so many have said, is aimed at protecting the public.