Hi again!
Well it's been 6 1/2 weeks since the consultation responses went in and I think it's fair to say that the figures were substantial even though despite a bit of searching there still appears to be no exact figure on the number received by the MoJ. Jonathan Djanogly (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (HM Courts Service and Legal Aid), Justice; Huntingdon, Conservative), has been quoted to have said "about 5000" in the Justice Committees' session on 16th February and still managed to avoid giving an accurate response to Andy Slaughters' (Hammersmith, Labour), questions on 28th February.
It's been quite amazing to see social interactive media taking a forefront on reporting the important issues as usual to the people who are already with their heads in the game. The newspapers have given little in terms of up-to-date coverage and have either failed entirely to bring this important issue to light or have lagged so far behind that they have indeed been releasing dead, old news. However it's not too late for them to pick up the pace.
Earlier in March three of the team attended a meeting with Claire Bassett (CEO for the Criminal Cases Review Commission), to discuss our progress so far, our aims, methods and final goals. It was then the idea that instead of purely opposing the cuts, becoming 'one of many' and loosing what is quite an individual identity we should set our sights on developing a support structure that we as a team will eventually be able to step back from and watch it run itself. This body of support will be focused on those disproportionately affected by the proposed cuts in Birmingham and we hope to get Pro Bono practitioners, advisors and more involved in the successful implementation and running of this.
Since then we have been attending numerous visits, learning sessions, meetings so on and so forth both off our own backs and through the UpRising Programme. We plan to meet with an important peer very soon who shall momentarily remain nameless but who may lend substantial credibility to our project and it's purpose.
Please get in contact if there's anything you would like to suggest or comment on in the blog or in regards to the proposed cuts. Our Email address is alacbirmingham@gmail.com , you can follow us via twitter: http://twitter.com/alacbirmingham and befriend the facebook group: ALAC (Against Legal Aid Cuts).
Two shout outs: - Please pay a visit to http://www.justice-for-all.org.uk/ and sign up!!! The site's full of true stories and useful information on what's going on. Thanks also to Barpa Langass for the comment on the first post which led me to http://ilegal.org.uk/index.cgi?board=responses , a group and site dedicated to the cause.
Keep following the campaign trail and make some noise!
Thomas Carter
