My noble friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lord Bach) has made the following written ministerial statement:

“Legal aid is one of the fundamental elements underpinning the justice system and an important way of helping poorer members of the community. It enables access to justice for those who cannot afford to pay for legal advice and representation. The Government aims to get the best value for money from the provision of these services, so that as many people as possible can be helped using the available resources.

The value of legal aid contracts that have been awarded to the Not for Profit sector by the Legal Services Commission has increased from almost £48 million in 2002-03 to £80 million last year. This has enabled the sector to provide legal aid to an increasing number of people and last year over 250,000 of the 800,000 acts of advice and assistance were delivered by Not for Profit agencies.

The need for legal advice in areas like housing and debt will inevitably increase in these difficult economic times and the Government wants to be sure that the best use of existing resources is being made.

We need to bring together the evidence about the issues facing the advice sector on the ground. I have asked my officials, therefore, to lead a short study which will gather evidence about the following:

The impact of the recession and the demand for civil legal advice.

The impact of civil legal advice fixed fees on local providers—financially and in terms of the type of work they are taking on.

The initial experience of Community Legal Advice Centres, including the impact on other providers in the area.

Trends in funding from sources other than the Community Legal Service, including local authority funding, national lottery funding, charities, central government departments, and others.

Our study will complement other work that is taking place—for example, the Legal Services Commission’s review of civil fixed fees, which is due to report early next year and the Legal Services Research Centre's ongoing research and evaluation of CLACs. The aim of our study will be to identify, bring together, and analyse the available evidence across England and Wales. This will improve our understanding of how legal advice is delivered and funded at the local level and establish what further information we may need to inform future decisions.

The study team will work closely with advice providers, local authorities and other funders of advice to establish the evidence. I intend to set up a steering group for the project, which will include representatives from outside Government, which I will chair.

The initial study will report in March and copies of the report will placed in the Libraries of both Houses.”