Advice Centres (Hansard, 14 March 1990)

§ 13. Mr. Michael J. Martin
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding he proposes to give citizens advice bureaux and consumer advice centres for 1990–91.

§ Mr. Forth
My Department does not provide funds specifically for consumer advice centres or directly to citizens advice bureaux. Details of the DTI grant in aid for the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and Citizens Advice Scotland in 1990–91 will not be available until after the Chancellor's annual statement on 20 March.

§ Mr. Martin
That is a very disappointing reply, given that the Government's policy is to keep interest rates high. He will know that many thousands of families are in a desperate situation because of mortage rates. Banks and other lending societies are giving easy credit and the only bodies people can turn to are the advice bureaux. In view of the Government's policies, ought not the Government at least to consider financing those organisations?

§ Mr. Forth
No, because since 1945 the system has been—correctly, I believe—that the responsibility for funding bureaux at local level lies principally with local authorities. We very generously finance the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux in London and Citizens Advice Scotland in Edinburgh to such an extent that Government funding has more than doubled in real terms over the past 10 years. It is worth noting that advice from the financial institutions, to those who seek it, is increasingly available from the private sector. We encourage that and think it right, and we look for the tendency to increase in the future.

§ Mr. Wells
Will my hon. Friend ensure that the advice given by citizens advice bureaux is non-political, and that the money spent by the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux is not kept at the centre to promote politically-oriented advice?

§ Mr. Forth
My hon. Friend voices an anxiety which I know is shared by many. It is legitimate when considerable sums of taxpayers' money—£9 million or £10 million per year—is given to an organisation such as the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux. I think and hope that those involved with the work of CABs are aware of the worries that my hon. Friend has expressed—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Member for Glasgow, Hillhead (Mr. Galloway) has not been called to ask a supplementary question.

§ Mr. Forth
My hon. Friend seems to have touched a raw nerve among Opposition Members. I do not know what they are trying to conceal by their shouting and barracking, but I hope that the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux feels that it has nothing to conceal.

§ Mr. Loyden
Does the Minister accept that many people will note what he and his hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Wells) have said about the citizens advice bureaux, which exist to represent the interests of their clients whatever the Government in power? If the national association is being seen as another Marxist cell, we have reached a point where few people will take seriously what the Government say on these issues.

§ Mr. Forth
Methinks the hon. Gentleman doth protest a little too much. Everyone will wish to examine his words carefully as they were certainly not the words that I used.

§ Mr. Favell
Does my hon. Friend agree that in towns and cities such as Stockport, which are well served with citizens advice bureaux, it is an utter waste of money to set up a welfare rights unit on the community charge?

§ Mr. Forth
My hon. Friend is as assiduous as ever in drawing the attention of the House to what is going on in his constituency. He may wish to draw the same matters to the attention of the community charge payers of Stockport, who will wish to take a view at the local elections.