Citizens' Advice Bureaux
(asked on 29th January 2015) - View Source
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received from the management, staff and volunteers of Citizens Advice Bureaux on the effectiveness of Citizens Advice.
Since 2010 the Department has received a number of letters, mainly from MPs in response to issues raised by their constituents, but also from bureaux volunteers, staff and one trustee. Only on two occasions has that correspondence been about the effectiveness of the service in so far as that relates to a complaint about how an individual’s case was handled. The remaining correspondence has related to funding issues, both local authority funding, which provides core funding to bureaux, or centrally-government funded programmes such as the provision of debt advice and legal aid.
Set out in the table below is the total number of correspondence received to date:
Year | No. cases | Subject | Correspondence originator |
2010-2011
| 12
|
11 x local bureaux funding 1x CAB involvement in Big Society | 5 x constituent 4 x bureaux manager 2 x bureaux trustee 1 x MP |
2011-12
| 4
| 2 x local bureaux funding 1 x local funding/funding of debt advice/Legal Aid 1 x Consumer Landscape reforms and effect on bureaux | 3 x constituent 1 x volunteer
|
2012-13
| 9
| 7 x local bureaux funding 1 x local funding/funding of debt advice/Legal Aid 1 x complaint about bureaux service | 2 x volunteer 7 x constituent |
2013-14
| 4
| 2 x local bureaux funding 1 x funding CAB, Shelter & Age Concern 1 x complaint about bureaux service | 4 x constituent |
2014-15
| 2
| 2 x support for continued provision of free advice (supporting the “Advice for the Future” campaign) | 2 x constituent |