Schedule 7 - Minor and consequential amendments
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords]
5:00 pm
Mr Dominic Grieve (Shadow Attorney General, Home, Constitutional & Legal Affairs; Beaconsfield, Conservative)
I am not surprised at the Minister's response. I think that there is considerable force in what he says about the mingling of civil and criminal advice by the duty solicitor not being practical.
The hon. Member for Somerton and Frome is highlighting the crisis in civil legal aid provision around the country. I do not want to take up too much of the Committee's time—you would stop me anyway, Mr. Benton—but the reality is that in an effort to obtain quality, a number of things have happened. First, the high street solicitor providing a universal service has disappeared. In rural areas such as the hon. Gentleman's constituency, that has resulted in the disappearance of individuals who are able or willing at all to provide the service under the legal aid scheme. As a result, people do not know where to turn for help.
Other problems include general funding, as well as the willingness of solicitors to apply for the necessary quality mark to do the work. It is one area of publicly funded work where the returns are so small in relation to the overheads that people tend to remove themselves altogether—there is massive evidence of that in family law. That is outside the Minister's remit, but it is a serious issue and one that I am not sure that I have easy answers to. That is why the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome is finding such cases, particularly because of the sort of area that he represents. I find such cases in my constituency, but not at the same level because there is still sufficient provision in a much more densely populated area. It is a major problem, and things are getting worse rather than better.