Citizens Advice Week
The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion S2M-1579, in the name of Bill Butler, on citizens advice week. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament supports Advice Week from 6 to 13 September 2004; commends the vital work that Scotland's 77 citizens advice bureaux do in providing free, impartial and confidential advice to all; recognises that in the last year they handled over 400,000 issues and secured nearly £26m for clients; further recognises that such good quality advice on issues such as benefits, debt, employment, housing and consumer affairs is increasingly necessary in today's society; acknowledges that the use of client evidence means that citizens advice bureaux speak with authority and relevance on changing social issues from both a local and national perspective; congratulates the 2,193 volunteers and 329 paid members of staff who provide this service, and hopes that parliamentarians across the political spectrum can work together to ensure that the service will continue to inform government and meet the needs of local communities across Scotland in the years to come.
I am delighted to have the chance to bring this topic to the chamber for debate. I thank all 72 members who supported the motion. I also welcome the volunteers and staff from Citizens Advice Scotland who are in the public gallery to listen to the debate. In particular, I thank Jo Stewart, manager of the Drumchapel citizens advice bureau, who for the past 12 years has worked tirelessly in that post. She is a well-respected member of the local community whose work and advice have helped thousands of people in that community.
The services provided by citizens advice bureaux across Scotland are of the highest professional standard. It is a voluntary service, but it can by no means be described as amateur. All the bureau advisers have received training so that they may provide a holistic advice service that does not examine clients' problems in isolation. Advisers examine links between debt, poverty, unemployment and ill health, which still affect too many of our constituents. They have a comprehensive information system, with more than 12,000 pages of information on a huge range of subjects. All that information is now condensed on to one CD-ROM, an advance that would have been unimaginable 65 years ago, when the citizens advice bureau was born as a wartime information service.
Citizens Advice Scotland has two core functions. The first is to advise people to ensure that they have the fullest possible knowledge of their rights and responsibilities and of the services that are available to them. The second is to secure change by influencing the development of social policy in public services, both locally and nationally. That work helps to improve laws, rules and regulations, making services more responsive to people's needs.
As well as pursuing its core aims, CAS and the local bureaux have been involved in innovative partnership arrangements with a range of public service providers and voluntary organisations to ensure that people, often when they are at their most vulnerable, receive the information and advice that they need. For example, Citizens Advice Scotland and the local bureaux have a real role to play in the courts and the justice system. Court can be a daunting place for those with little experience of the legal system, and I warmly welcome the initiative that will provide litigants and other court users in Airdrie, Aberdeen, Dundee and Hamilton with access to free, independent CAB advice inside their local sheriff courts. Good advice, especially in-court advice facilities and free, independent legal advice, can only help to promote fairness and equality and improve the efficiency of people's passage through the justice system. This is a praiseworthy innovation. It is the type of innovative partnership working that makes a real difference.
In addition, outreach work is now an integral part of the services that bureaux offer. Not everyone is able to come to the citizens advice bureau for assistance. That inability may be due to ill health, infirmity, a lack of knowledge about the help on offer or a reluctance to ask for help. In order to address that need, CAB staff are willing to provide targeted home visits for older people, as well as to explore more flexible ways of providing advice—via e-mail, for example. Such flexibility makes CAS such an important and valuable service.
Only last week, I visited the staff and volunteers at Drumchapel CAB, who are in the public gallery today. I believe that their outreach work deserves special mention. Currently, the Drumchapel CAB holds six outreach surgeries per month in different parts of the community. The success of those surgeries has resulted in the decision to increase their number to 10 every month. That is in addition to the home visits that are made regularly to local elderly and disabled members of the community.
On volunteering, the way in which advice and services are delivered makes CAS a good thing in itself. Fundamentally, it offers people the opportunity to volunteer their time to help others in their own community. More than a quarter of Scotland's population volunteer and I want to take this opportunity to register Parliament's thanks to them and the 2,500 people who volunteer their time to provide advice and assistance in the 59 member CABx throughout the country.
I believe that sound advice is essential to deal with modern life's complexities. If my fellow members will permit me to offer some of my own advice, I suggest that they take part in CAS's advice and action programme, which offers politicians and civil servants the chance to witness at first hand the valuable work that their local CABx undertake. As a regular visitor to my local citizens advice bureau, I intend to take part in the programme in the near future and hope that many colleagues will do the same.
I benefit from the hospitality of the Peebles CAB, where I hold regular advice surgeries. I should point out that the interaction between the volunteers, professional staff and MSPs allows us to see the direct link between the problems that people approach CAB staff with and the legislation that we pass. That link is vital for us in the chamber.
I can but agree with Mr Purvis. We would all endorse the sentiment that he has just expressed.
On the issue of funding, I am sure that all members will have received and read the briefing distributed in advance of today's debate, which provides statistics on and figures for the work of CABx in their constituencies. When I read that material, I was struck first by the value of the service that is provided. However, I also noticed that there was a disparity in funding among bureaux—I am sure that the minister expected me to mention this issue, and I will not disappoint him. The fact that each CAB is an independent charity that is responsible for its funding means that many hours have to be spent applying for funding and holding fund-raising events instead of providing advice to clients. I ask the minister to examine that funding disparity as well as service provision. For example, although Dumfries and Galloway is well served, the Borders is not as well served. I believe that the chamber would like to hear the minister's views on those matters.
The work of CAS is crucial to many of our constituents in all constituencies. Bureaux are tremendous value for money and represent an example of how local authorities can invest to save. As long as the need remains, a fully resourced CAB service is essential. Without such a service, many of our fellow citizens would literally be the poorer. I believe that the CAB service's work is a vital social resource and commend it to the chamber.
I must advise members that the debate is very heavily oversubscribed. It will not be possible to extend it this evening, because of my commitments. I restrict members to three-minute speeches and will call as many as I possibly can.
I congratulate Bill Butler on lodging this very important and worthy motion. Indeed, it reminds me of a motion that Donald Gorrie lodged two years ago that brought into focus the very worthy work on debt that a huge number of volunteers in citizens advice bureaux carry out. During my disreputable former career as a solicitor, I also acted as a volunteer at the CAB and gave advice on general litigation matters. Members of my ex-profession as well as other professionals give of their time in such a way. In fact, I note that in the Borders even the Faculty of Advocates is using the CAB to provide—freely—advice, information and perhaps representation in cases.
That said, I am concerned to hear two years down the line that some of the same funding problems with CABx remain. For example, a very worthy system in East Lothian married the CAB and Macmillan Cancer Relief and helped cancer sufferers and their families to access benefits in order to deal with any employment issues that arose from their illness. That work is no longer funded, which is a very bad thing indeed in both finance and humanity terms.
I note the figures for central Borders, Peebles and Penicuik CABx that CAS has given us and I thank it for all the information that it has provided. Apart from handling debt cases that totalled some £3 million in those three areas, the CABx secured more than £1 million for their clients. By doing so, not only have they taken the burden of debt off individuals' shoulders, they have brought money back into the local economy.
I will focus on debt as a major issue because a lot of marital break-up is related to debt and I know that CABx handle many problems around that as well. By being there for people, CABx lift the panic of their debt problems from their shoulders and help to structure that debt. We know that creditors will not get blood from a stone. They need the debtor to have their debt structured.
A huge problem for this Parliament is that credit control is outwith our control. Consumer credit is rampant. In the afternoons on television we see what I call villainous advertisements for consolidated loans that are brought to vulnerable people. They think that by handing over their debt to a company they are somehow making their debt less, but they are not—they will pay higher premiums and higher interest.
With a different bonnet on, as a member of the Scottish National Party, I recognise the Parliament's current limitations. I hope that the minister is in close liaison with his Westminster colleagues on how to deal with consumer credit in particular.
As a volunteer for a CAB in my past life, I am delighted to speak in this debate secured by Bill Butler. Sustainable funding is a constant problem for CABx. Indeed, my colleague Annabel Goldie received a letter from East Dunbartonshire CAB saying that the negotiations for funding every three years place an unacceptable strain on the system. Like other CABx, it has expanded its team, which now includes a dedicated housing worker and an elderly services worker, with more new appointments planned.
It is a fact that the increased specialist knowledge that is required for working in CABx means that they require more secure, paid staff. Over a sixth of volunteers left the service in 2002-03, so there is a need to ensure that training—from which I have benefited—and specialist training in particular continue so that specialist knowledge is not lost to the service.
We also need to have more understanding of the word volunteer. There seems to be an assumption that volunteers do not cost the service money. However, not only are there costs for volunteers' travel, but desks, heating, lighting, office space, computers, office equipment and training are also needed, which are costly. Therefore, although there are no wage costs for volunteers, there are certainly considerable overhead costs and there is always a limit to service cuts and drives for efficiencies.
I had hoped that the debt arrangement scheme would help to sustain many CABx and outreach services in Scotland. However, I am led to believe that councils are holding much of the resource for money advisers as they build their own services and that the money will be focused on areas of highest deprivation. The Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber CAB dealt with 19,456 new client issues with funding of £802,071, which works out at £41 per issue. I realise that that is a simplified calculation, but it illustrates the cost effectiveness of the service, which I doubt would be matched by local authority money advisers.
I also contend that debt resources should be focused on areas of high deprivation, although debt is a problem across all Scotland, particularly among public sector workers—because someone is in a secure job, that does not mean that debt is not a serious problem for them.
I would like to thank the Princess Royal for her commitment to and support for CABx, as well as for her extensive understanding of the work that they do.
Finally, there are unsung heroes in CAB offices across Scotland, but I would like to take this opportunity to mention in particular John McDermott and Steve Alderson of the Raigmore CAB for the professional, efficient and friendly advice that they have given and continue to give to people with whom I have had contact in the past year.
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this evening's debate and I join other members in congratulating my colleague Bill Butler on obtaining the debate.
Many members will know that I have a long-standing interest in the work of the citizens advice service. My previous members' business debate sought to highlight the work that my local CAB has been carrying out in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Relief. I am pleased to say that that joint project continues to be a great success, ensuring that cancer sufferers and their carers get the advice and support that they need at the most difficult of times. That success is highlighted by the fact that 95 per cent of those who use the CAB-Macmillan project in Lanarkshire are accessing benefits for the very first time. As I have previously stated, that service represents a success not only for those who use it but for the partnership approach to problem solving. There may well be other such opportunities out there for agencies, be they voluntary or statutory, to work in partnership, rather than creating a new, distinct organisation. Indeed, I believe that agencies such as the CABx have an important part to play in community planning and community health partnerships.
Today, however, I would like to speak a little about the core work of the CAB service. In particular, I would like to highlight the excellent work carried out by the staff and volunteers at Airdrie CAB. Their efforts make a very real difference to thousands of people in and around Airdrie. Last year, they helped local people to secure £1.75 million in benefits and other moneys to which they were entitled. That not only benefits those individuals but provides great benefits to the local economy. In many cases, that additional money has also helped to tackle the growing problem of debt. It is not so impressive to note that, in 2002-03, Airdrie CAB dealt with debt cases totalling just under £3 million. Although Mary Scanlon makes a good point about debt not just affecting deprived communities, it certainly affects them more than it affects more affluent communities, so it is right that money be targeted at our deprived communities.
As well as providing an invaluable service to its users, CAS also provides an excellent training resource for its volunteers. The large number of volunteers who go on to full-time employment or education provide clear evidence of the benefits of volunteering in general and, in particular, the benefits of volunteering with CABx. CABx also provide policy makers with a vast array of data on social matters such as debt levels, fuel poverty, bankruptcy and benefits uptake.
I am pleased that one of the first debates in our new home should celebrate the work carried out by Citizens Advice Scotland across the country. I congratulate and thank all the staff and volunteers who work so hard to help some of the most vulnerable people in their communities and I encourage them to keep up the good work.
I, too, congratulate Bill Butler on securing tonight's debate, which is on a very important topic. It is a shame that it might be overshadowed in the press today and tomorrow by the Fraser inquiry, but the debate puts on record the great work that citizens advice bureaux do on a huge range of issues.
In particular, the citizens advice service highlights the horrendous culture of debt that has grown up in our society—nearly 12 per cent of CAB cases concern debt. I am disappointed that there is no citizens advice bureau in my constituency, but the five CABx in Edinburgh offer services across the whole city, and I know that many of my constituents have been helped by the great work that their volunteers—more than 90 per cent of people who work in CABx are volunteers—and their paid staff have done to help people across Edinburgh.
Sadly, issues surrounding credit and loans are reserved matters, but giving people advice and dealing with the problem of debt are devolved, which is why we can discuss that work today, why we can pay tribute to CAB offices throughout Scotland and why we can encourage the Executive to continue to tackle debt and to fund debt advice. Bill Butler and Mary Scanlon talked about that; I am sure that other members will also mention it. Citizens advice bureaux do not have secure long-term funding, so they have to waste their time continually searching out money. One of the problems in our voluntary sector that has still not been resolved is that lots of money is available for new and exciting projects, but less exists to keep successful projects going. For every £1 that CABx receive in funding they put £6 back into the local economy. That is real and proven value that should be better supported.
It was a shock to me to discover recently that Britain's debt has reached £1 trillion, which is an almost incomprehensible figure. If I might digress, I also recently discovered that a trillion plastic bags are used in the world every year. Those figures represent £150 and 150 bags for every man, woman and child on the planet. I hope that that might put our vast debt crisis into perspective. Liberal Democrat members have long argued for fewer incentives in the banking system for promotion of debt rather than of savings, but that is up to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Although CABx provide excellent advice on debt—which totalled £123 million—they are tightly constrained as to what they can say. Perhaps there is a need for a network of debt advice centres run by Citizens Advice Scotland and paid for by the investment and credit sector. That would free up money that CABx currently spend on debt advice to be used for other services that are mentioned in the motion, such as benefits, employment, housing and consumer affairs.
I congratulate CABx for all the advice that they have given out. I undertake to ensure that the online services at www.adviceguide.org.uk will be linked from my website and I will publicise them as often as I can.
I congratulate Bill Butler on securing the debate. I also congratulate Mike Pringle on managing to wangle into his speech a mention of tax on plastic bags, which is the subject of his proposed member's bill—I did not think that that could be done.
It is a pleasure to contribute to the debate, although it is difficult to add anything new because so many of the speeches that have already been made—and, no doubt, those that will follow—reflect the fact that CABx throughout Scotland do a tremendous job for their communities. I endorse Karen Whitefield's point that they are of greatest value in our more deprived communities because that is where the major issue of debt is most to the fore.
I will not be any different from other members in that I will mention my local CAB, which is in the Castlemilk district of Glasgow. It does a tremendous job in gaining benefits for, and giving advice and support—often just emotional support—to many people, who often go through the doors not knowing quite what it is that they want, but would like a friendly person to discuss the matter with, and hope that at the end of the day that person will help out in some way.
We must focus on debt in the debate. It is not only a matter of individuals' debt, although a great many individuals get a great deal of help from Citizens Advice Scotland and their local bureaux. The issue of funding for CABx, if not debt, is increasingly important. It is not beyond the resources of CABx, almost by definition, to be innovative. For example, the CAB in Castlemilk recently got funding from Greater Glasgow NHS Board to inform people who have various health concerns that they might have entitlements that they are not aware of or have never thought of. The national health service is working with the CAB on the project to ensure that local communities benefit.
I do not want to labour the point, but I have to mention that it is unfortunate that there is a dispute in Glasgow with local advice bureaux about how they will be funded in the future. There is an issue about debt profiling, because Glasgow City Council wants, through the use of information technology, to centralise and control the way the information is held. It is unfortunate that that has held up restructuring of funding for CABx throughout the city, so I hope that the issue can be resolved. It seems to me that Glasgow City Council might in this case relax its intentions to centralise debt profiling, which is an important issue. From the CABx point of view, I would have thought that the Data Protection Act 1998 would protect individuals. The problem is that a number of money advice projects, including the CAB in Castlemilk, are being held up from arranging a new funding stream that will enable them not only to continue the work that they do, but to build back up to full-time working for their staff, who have been working a four-day week because that is all that the CAB has been able to afford for the past few years.
I congratulate CABx staff and, of course, the volunteers—I volunteered for a CAB about 30 years ago when I was a student. Staff cannot do their work without volunteers; the two complement one another. I think that the debate this evening recognises that in appropriate terms.
I add my voice to the welcome for the debate. I thank Bill Butler for securing it and congratulate him on that.
I have experience of a citizens advice bureau not as a volunteer—which many members have been—but as a service user. I trusted the excellent reputation of citizens advice bureaux when I needed help to deal with a housing problem. I trusted the bureau's confidentiality, impartiality and independence from the local authority. Those were crucial elements and they are important reasons why many people trust and use their local bureaux.
As members have said, a brief look through the statistics that have helpfully been provided shows the breadth and depth of work that the CAB service undertakes. It deals not only with housing issues, but with many other issues. It is important to compare the value of the work to society with the level of funding and support that bureaux receive. Throughout much of the voluntary sector, miracles are worked on meagre resources—citizens advice bureaux are good examples of that.
Members have mentioned consumer debt issues, the need to make the debt arrangement scheme available to people who have low disposable incomes and the need to make creditors offer credit more responsibly. However, we must also consider our cultural need to reduce our focus on the acquisition of meaningless stuff in our lives. Many people—certainly those from my generation—begin their spiral into debt through a seemingly compulsive need to shop not for necessities, but for meaningless stuff that fills up our lives and eventually fills up our landfill sites, too.
From every source, adverts bombard us daily. They shout from our radios and televisions at a higher volume and pitch than programmes. They shroud whole buildings in our towns and cities. Even now, they stealthily fill every spare space in our schools and colleges, telling us to consume ever more. Those who benefit from the habit that we have formed are of course only too happy if people use their credit cards or store cards to pay because that way they pay twice—once for the product and once to get into debt. As Christine Grahame said, people may also pay a third time if they consolidate their debt later.
As a society, we endorse living with debt. We encourage people to take out mortgages to buy their own homes, to take out student loans and to become used to the idea of huge debts. We even encourage children to become used to the habit of putting payments on plastic by paying for their school meals with their own card.
We must ask ourselves whether we are fuelling the problem. If so, how many more miracles will we ask citizens advice bureaux and others to perform to help to deal with the consequences? Everyone in the chamber takes the issue seriously, but only if we take the root cause of the problem seriously will the "vital social resource"—as Bill Butler put it—be best used.
I welcome the opportunity to pay tribute to the excellent work of staff and volunteers of citizens advice bureaux throughout Scotland.
The Falkirk area has three citizens advice bureaux: the Falkirk CAB, the Denny and Dunipace CAB and—I am sure that Cathy Peattie would not mind my mentioning it—the Grangemouth CAB, which is in her constituency. Last year, those three CABx dealt with more than 23,000 advice and information inquiries on behalf of the Falkirk and district community. They handled more than £8 million in debt for clients and secured more than £888,000 by helping clients to claim welfare benefits. Last year, the volunteers in the three bureaux worked 23,348 hours. If they had been paid the national average wage for that, the cost to the public sector would have been more than £310,000. The CABx provide a very good information and advice service and they are good value for money.
Typically, just over one sixth of volunteers leave the service in any one year and nearly half enter jobs or further education. The service helps individuals and helps people to put something back into the community and to boost the local and national economies.
We are all familiar with the CAB offices or shop fronts in high streets throughout Scotland, but the CAS is into other methods of helping people to access its information and advice service, including home visits, advice by e-mail and specialist services such as representation at tribunals and legal clinics.
I also commend CAS for the quality of the briefings that it provides to members of Parliament and members of the Scottish Parliament. Those briefings help to inform parliamentary debates and to improve the quality of legislation.
For all those reasons, I commend the work of the CABx and the CAS, but we should face up to our responsibilities. I hope that the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Parliament and local authorities throughout Scotland will ensure that the CABx receive adequate support—financial and otherwise—to enable them to continue the excellent and valuable service that they provide to the people whom we represent.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. Like other members, I thank Bill Butler for highlighting citizens advice week, for securing the debate and for his excellent speech.
I will be a bit parochial, like other members, and thank Citizens Advice Scotland in Fife and my constituency. In my constituency, the organisation is called Citizens Advice and Rights Fife—CARF—but it is a member of Citizens Advice Scotland. CARF is the lead agency for advice and money advice in Fife and it works in partnership with many other agencies to deliver a first-class holistic service for people in my constituency and throughout Fife.
CARF advises on a wide range of issues that affect our communities. Last year, it handled more than 74,000 issues and secured more than £3 million in financial gain for its clients. However, CARF has drawn to my attention a matter that I want to raise with the minister, which is the increase that it has experienced in people seeking advice about terms and conditions of employment and representation at employment tribunals. In Fife, the skills and expertise to deal with that work are not an issue, but the need for resources to deal with the increased demand is. From April to June, CARF dealt with 123 employment tribunal cases; we are all aware of the complexity and time requirements of such a work load.
We have heard much about innovative developments, and CARF is at the forefront in Fife. Along with local regeneration managers, it is a lead agency for developing proactive advice strategies in our regeneration areas. It has been developing and encouraging interagency protocols and referrals throughout Fife. The development of a centralised telephone service to deal with the ever-increasing demand in Fife is certainly welcome.
In three minutes, it is not possible to cover all the work that is done in Fife, but I will conclude with CARF's vision, which is to be the lead agency in Fife providing services that meet the needs of the whole community and which enhance the quality of life of the people of Fife, and to make a significant contribution to achieving the community plan objectives of a healthier, safer, stronger community. That is something to which we can all subscribe.
I congratulate Bill Butler on securing the debate. Instead of being area parochial, I will be Glasgow parochial.
CABx do an absolutely magnificent job. Bill Butler talked about volunteering to work in a CAB, and I and other parliamentarians have done that. I did it last year in a number of CABx throughout Glasgow and have great respect for all the hard work that the volunteers and paid workers in CABx do. It is sometimes a stressful job, as I found out, and it can take half a day, which is a whole shift, to sort out the various problems that some clients have.
I will not go into what CABx do in every detail, but they deal with benefits, debt, consumer debt and housing. Even on issues with which they do not deal, they can find a way of getting advice and contacting those with expertise for people who come to them and ask for help. They do a magnificent job.
There are a couple of issues that I want to raise with the minister, which I hope he will take on board. The first has been mentioned by everyone, and it is the funding situation. I was shocked to find that the moneys that CABx in the Glasgow area are getting in 2004 are the same as they got in 2003. There is no rise.
Glasgow is the worst city in Scotland for poverty, so I would have thought that it was essential for more moneys to go into CABx. Parkhead CAB is to close for two days a week and Easterhouse CAB is to lose one worker. They contacted me to say that that will have a detrimental effect on their services. That is due to lack of funding. I hope that the minister will take that point on board. I know that people mention money all the time, and that CABx are a council responsibility, but councils get money from the Executive. I would like the Executive to address that.
The other issue that I want to mention—Mike Watson touched on it—was raised with me by Parkhead CAB, Bridgeton CAB, Castlemilk CAB, Drumchapel CAB, Maryhill CAB, Greater Pollok CAB, greater Easterhouse money advice project and West Glasgow Against Poverty; it is the situation with Glasgow City Council, which is asking CABx to use the money advice casework system. If they do not do that—and CABx are saying that they cannot do that because it would breach confidentiality—the council has said that they will not get any new moneys or be able to access the money they get just now. A letter that I have states that MACS is the preferred system of the Scottish Executive. That is worrying. People have contacted me and other MSPs about it, because nothing can happen until the system is up and running. As CABx state in their newsletter, confidentiality is the main thing, but with that system they will be unable to provide it. I would like the minister to address that.
I thank all the workers in CABx throughout Scotland for all the hard work that they do.
I join colleagues in congratulating Bill Butler on securing the debate. While it gives us an opportunity to be wonderfully parochial, it is important that we recognise the work of citizens advice bureaux and Citizens Advice Scotland.
Let me start by paying tribute to Dumbarton CAB, which serves a catchment area that includes communities that experience disadvantage, with higher than average levels of unemployment. That shows, because in the last year the CAB dealt with almost 10,000 cases, ranging from benefit inquiries to consumer issues.
An increasingly significant area of work is debt. Let us consider the scale of that for a minute, because that is where I want to focus my comments. Dumbarton CAB dealt with 952 debt cases totalling more than £1 million. That is significant. In that context, let me pay tribute to Citizens Advice Scotland for its social policy work, because it is based on the experience of clients—it is not just theoretical—it is practical, it is real, and it helps to inform our actions in Government. CAS also makes a valuable contribution to the cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament on tackling debt.
A key part of the social policy work of CAS is its 2004 report "On the cards", which resulted from a detailed survey of debt clients throughout the country. I say to Mary Scanlon that she is wrong: debt has a disproportionate effect on poor communities. They are predominantly communities with low incomes, and they do not have the disposable assets of others to deal with their debts. That is backed up by the survey. Half of the people who were surveyed had a monthly household income of less than £800. A quarter of them had incomes of less than £400. Two in five debt clients mention low income as the most significant reason for their debt. A fifth of debt clients are lone parents, and of those two thirds have credit card debts.
You have one minute.
Thank you for that reminder, Presiding Officer. I will come swiftly to what I think we need to do. There is an issue for us as a Parliament—and for our colleagues at Westminster—to encourage responsible lending and to examine access to alternative, affordable sources of credit, such as credit unions, but also to challenge the mainstream institutions. We need to broaden access to the debt arrangement scheme to those with limited disposable incomes. I welcome the Executive-sponsored research group that is starting to examine that. Access to free, independent and confidential advice for all is essential. CABx have a pivotal role in our communities and, like other members, I commend the staff and volunteers for all their work.
I, too, congratulate Bill Butler on securing this important debate. Last Friday, I visited the CAB in Airdrie to attend the launch of the Lanarkshire website, which is very user friendly and has a wealth of information on many issues. I was particularly impressed by the range of advice that the office provides, the partnerships, the outreach service and the specialist advice units. Everything is covered, from advice on money, welfare rights and redundancy, to an in-court advice service. In short, the office is thriving and delivers an excellent service.
It is important to note that that level of service is possible only because 90 per cent of CABx workers are skilled and trained volunteers. In turn, that means that people who find themselves in difficult circumstances can be reassured that the advice that they access is not only free, but impartial, confidential and non-judgmental. I hope that local authorities that have access to funding for advice services and debt counselling, including the new funding for the forthcoming debt administration scheme, will bear that point in mind when deciding how best to deploy the money.
I want the minister to ensure that core funding is provided for citizens advice bureaux and that that should be secure from year to year as long as they deliver. That is the key point. Bureaux can be entrepreneurial and get more money for projects, but core funding must be in place. If that is provided by local authorities, the system must be monitored. Some local authorities gave all the additional debt funding to CABx; some gave none to CABx and merely built up their own empire; and some did a bit of both. The outcomes of advice given and the number of people who are helped must be monitored. I am sure that CABx would demonstrate a really good result in that process. If the in-house local authority people did the same, that would be fine.
Funding should also take account of the training element. As members have said, many people go from CABx into employment, which should generate cash from the Executive. There should also be more money to help recruit more volunteers.
My regrets to the remaining members who wish to speak, but I must now ask Lewis Macdonald to respond to the debate.
I, too, congratulate Bill Butler on securing the debate. The Scottish ministers are aware of the excellent work of citizens advice bureaux throughout Scotland and of Citizens Advice Scotland. Only last week, Margaret Curran met Kaliani Lyle, the chief executive of Citizens Advice Scotland. I understand that the meeting was constructive.
As other members have declared an interest in the debate, I confess that I was for some time a member of the management committee of Aberdeen citizens advice bureau. Therefore, like other members, I have seen at first hand the work that CABx do and the particular challenges that they face in the delivery of services.
There are many examples of fruitful relationships between Government and CABx. Several Scottish Executive departments work with CABx to support the delivery of services where, how and when people need them. Citizens Advice Scotland receives core funding from the UK Department of Trade and Industry, which reflects the role of bureaux in addressing issues such as consumer credit, welfare benefits and employment issues. I assure members that we keep in close touch with colleagues in the UK Government on consumer credit and other issues.
I agree with the points that a number of members made about the growing importance of debt in the work of CABx and in the priorities that Government sets. Members have described the growing burden of debt, the growing borrowing commitments that many people, particularly those with low incomes, face and the critical importance of free and high-quality money advice to allow people to take control of and do something about their situation.
Earlier, I mentioned a point that citizens advice bureaux in the Highlands have raised with me, which is that because most of the new money for the debt arrangement scheme and money advisers will be awarded on the basis of deprivation, most of it will go to Glasgow. Does the minister agree that some of that money should be distributed to areas such as the north-east and the Highlands, which are not quite as high in the deprivation category?
The important thing is that the money is there for a purpose. The purpose of the funding is to address debt issues where they arise, and the money has been distributed on that basis. It is right that decisions about how the funding is provided should often be made at a local level. It is because of the Executive's recognition of the growing burden of debt and its pressure on communities throughout Scotland that significant funds have been put in place.
There is £3 million of on-going funding, which provides for 120 money advisers across Scotland, half of whom are based in the voluntary sector, including in CABx. Earlier this year, Mary Mulligan announced a funding package of an additional £4 million to support money advice in Scotland further. Such funding is often directed towards specific advice projects for vulnerable groups such as lone parents, people with learning disabilities, young people and minority ethnic groups.
We want to ensure that resources are available to meet increasing demands. Therefore, £2 million of the additional funding will be distributed through the money advice sector to help meet demand arising from the introduction of the debt arrangement scheme, which will provide a positive opportunity for managed repayment of multiple debt while protecting the debtor from enforcement action. As Jackie Baillie mentioned, that will be backed up with research to identify precisely where issues are arising.
We want to help improve the quality of advice that CABx and others are able to provide, recognising the critical importance of training for those who work in the sector. We are therefore providing support for money advice training, resources, information and consultancy services—MATRICS.
The matter of varying levels of support from local councils to local CABx has been raised. It is right that local authorities should provide the core funding for CABx, because councils are best placed to decide on the allocation of resources according to the needs of local areas. In general, councils recognise the quality of service that their communities receive from CABx. We believe that both councils and bureaux should build on that and that they should work together to resolve any issues that have arisen, whether they be around funding or around other factors. The Executive does not take a line and intervene on such discussions, which are clearly best conducted at local level.
We are keen to support advice services that are delivered where and when they are most needed. I think that it was Bill Butler who referred to the in-court advice service, which is an excellent example of a service that has been developed from a focus on the needs of the client being met where that is most required. That makes high-quality advice available to people who might approach a court of law feeling unprepared for the experience and unaware of the advice that they can receive.
I was delighted to join in the launch of the Aberdeen court advice project, in my constituency, earlier this year. Such projects are funded in every sheriffdom in Scotland through the Justice Department. They are an indication of our commitment to access to justice, and they represent a recognition that CABx, which run the majority of projects, are well placed to assist with that.
Hospitals, like courts, are places where people end up in distress, often unprepared and often with issues on which they need advice. That advice can make a tremendous difference to the outcome of their visit. I am delighted that the health ministers have agreed to fund Citizens Advice Scotland to develop a model for an independent advice and support service for those wishing to raise concerns in the national health service; that will give valuable support to many people who are going through difficult periods in their lives.
We recognise that the services that are provided by CABx would not exist without volunteers. We recognise the crucial role that volunteers play in CABx and across the sector. At the same time, CABx are rightly proud of the professionalism of the service that they provide to people throughout the country.
I acknowledge the hard work and commitment of the citizens advice bureaux and their staff, which has been highlighted by members today and celebrated through advice week. The dedication and motivation of those who work in the bureaux make the most difference to the lives of their clients and of many people who are facing issues in Scotland today.
Meeting closed at 17:54.