Bitter blow for Scots & access to justice reforms as Tory-LibDem coalition scraps Scottish consumer champion Consumer Focus Scotland

Scots consumer champion Consumer Focus Scotland axed by London Government. SCOTS CONSUMERS suffered a bitter blow today at the hands of the Westminster Conservative-LibDem coalition Government as it was announced Consumer Focus Scotland and its parent organisation Consumer Focus are being scrapped as part of the ‘savings drive’ to abolish ‘quangos’ which has so far only affected 200 out of 900 ‘Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations’ & other statutory bodies reviewed for closure, with at least 380 apparently being retained.

The announcement of the spending cuts caused the Cabinet Office’s website to temporarily crash, however the list of publicly funded bodies is now available HERE (pdf). The entry for Consumer Focus reads : “No longer an NDPB - Government will consider the outcome of ongoing sectoral reviews and consult early next year on proposals to abolish Consumer Focus and transfer its function to Citizens Advice.”. The Taxpayers Alliance are left to gloat now their demand Consumer Focus be axed, has come true.

Douglas Sinclair, Chairman of Consumer Focus Scotland. Responding to the announcement by the UK Government today, Douglas Sinclair, Chair of Consumer Focus Scotland, said : “Consumer Focus, and Consumer Focus Scotland have achieved a huge amount for consumers. In the last few months alone Consumer Focus has obtained a £70 million pound energy bill refund for consumers across the UK and in Scotland the passage of the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill has meant the culmination of Consumer Focus Scotland’s campaign to widen choice and protection for users of legal services, and we played a key role in the establishment of the Post Office Challenge Fund.”

Mr Sinclair continued : “The UK Government has decided to transfer at least some of our functions to Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved. The issue now is not who does the work but that the work is done at a time when consumers are facing difficult economic circumstances, especially those who are vulnerable and whom we have a particular duty to protect.”

“What matters now is that the transfer happens in a way that works in consumers’ interests. We will be working with the UK and Scottish Government to do this in the best possible way in the interest of consumers in Scotland. The expertise and knowledge that has enabled us to fight for consumers must not be lost. Changes must not be at the expense of the public’s rights and needs - which organisations like Consumer Focus Scotland were created to protect.”

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is also being scrapped, its competition functions merged with the Competition Commission along with a transfer of its consumer and enforcement functions. High-profile consumer right challenges in the future will be mounted by underfunded local trading standards officers – I don't think so.

BBC News reported on the quango cuts saying Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude had told MPs money would be saved by axing the quangos, saying the main reason for the cull had always been to improve accountability, by having decisions taken by ministers and local authorities where possible.

Consumer group Which?, who will remain as one of the few remaining consumer protection organisations said today the shakeup of the consumer landscape with the scrapping of Consumer Focus must not leave consumers exposed.

Which? CEO Peter Vicary-Smith. Which? Chief Executive, Peter Vicary-Smith commenting on the axing of Consumer Focus & other consumer bodies said : "It’s vital that front line advice and enforcement services are maintained, so we’re pleased that Trading Standards and Citizens’ Advice have survived the cull. Which? is talking to the Government about how it can help with providing extra support to consumers in the new regime and continue to do so without taking Government money.”

He continued : "These changes also raise questions about moving responsibility for national enforcement to dedicated individual Trading Standards authorities. How will a local Trading Standards have the resources or the expertise to take on national companies such as the big banks, the airlines and the supermarkets?

"The merger of the Competition Commission offers the opportunity to strengthen competition regulation in the UK, but this will only happen if the new body is given the resources it needs to match its task and police markets effectively."

Perth based law reform campaigner Stewart MacKenzie, author of Petition 1247 - the McKenzie Friend petition which brought about one of the most significant changes in Scots courts for decades and won him the Which? Consumer Champion award for 2010 condemned today’s decision to scrap Consumer Focus Scotland.

Mr MacKenzie said : “'Consumer Focus have done incredible, important work since they were formed 2 years ago, as did their predecessor, the Scottish Consumer Council over many, many years. This is a shattering blow and I can only hope there is a route yet available which may be able to stop this happening and that is why I’ve asked my msp John Swinney to get the First Minister involved in this matter.”

The Scottish Government were asked for comment on today’s blow against Scots consumers. Their statement will appear here if one is issued.

This is of course, a bad day for Scots. No matter how this disgraceful decision is spun, Consumer protection in Scotland will suffer with the loss of Consumer Focus Scotland. Good people and a lot of valuable experience centralised in a well respected national coherent body have been thrown out under the guise of saving money, when in reality it will cost consumers in Scotland and across the country, dearly.

The plan by the Westminster Government, apparently, is to hand over Consumer Focus Scotland’s duties to Citizens Advice Scotland and the many uncoordinated local Trading Standards teams scattered across the regions who themselves are now subject to huge cuts in local authority spending. From experience in dealing with CAB/CAS & local Trading Standards outfits in Scotland, these organisations will have to up their game considerably if they are to match the effective, coordinated campaigning by the Scottish Consumer Council and its successor, Consumer Focus Scotland who served all of us in Scotland so very well over many years.

From the beginnings of my dealings with the Scottish Consumer Council in the mid 1990’s, during its leadership by Derdrie Hutton, DBE, to its current form as Consumer Focus Scotland, I can safely say they have always been a beneficial & much-listened-to voice for change, in the many areas of consumer interest & protection in Scotland, especially those issues on which I report including civil justice reform, regulation of the legal profession & access to justice.

Sadly in 2010, I am now reporting this much valued voice and effort on the part of Scots consumers is to be lost in this very anti-consumer move by the coalition Government in London.

Consumer Action Group statement on UK Government’s planned abolition of Consumer Focus, Consumer Direct & OFT

Scots Consumer Champion Consumer Focus Scotland ‘stabbed in the back by Taxpayers Alliance’. CONTINUING my coverage on the possibly imminent demise of Consumer Focus & Consumer Focus Scotland at the hands of the Taxpayers Alliance with their campaign “Scrap Consumer Focus”, along with the scrapping of Consumer Direct & the Office of Fair Trading, the Consumer Action Group, a UK organisation which campaigns for customer rights, particularly for the recovery of unfair charges imposed by UK banks on their customers has issued a statement on their website regarding the impact on consumers of the loss of most of the consumer protection currently in existence in the UK.

Given the prospect of a distinct lack of consumer protection being forced upon us by right wing political interest groups, I would urge consumers who value their consumer rights & protections to read up on the Consumer Action Group and join in the group’s efforts to truly represent & campaign for UK consumers.

Consumer Action Group’s statement on the demise of Consumer Focus, Consumer Direct & the OFT : It seems that Consumer Focus, Consumer Direct and the OFT are likely to be abolished in an announcement to be made later next week. This is an astonishing piece of bad news for consumer rights. It will bring further difficulty to the lives of millions of ordinary citizens throughout the country. It will gladden the hearts of financial institutions and retailers of goods and services everywhere as they take the opportunity to reduce spending on customer service. It will also increase opportunities and incentives to scam innocent customers.

Is this what David Cameron means by his "Big Society"? The removal of all protections from his trusting electorate so that corporate jackals are free to prey on vulnerable victims. Who will be left to protect them? Well apparently the government proposes that consumers will have to rely on Trading Standards and on Citizen's Advice. Will there be additional funding and will the funding be enough? Probably not.

Are Trading Standards and Citizen's Advice up to the job? Are they suitable? Citizen's Advice is a very decent organisation but they certainly don't have a reputation for assisting consumers to challenge companies which try to deprive them of their rights. This is unlikely to change because it would mean that the entire mindset of Citizen's Advice would need to be altered.

What about Trading Standards? Well for far too long, this organisation has not been directly accessible by the public. They do not have that culture. They are a specialist organisation which is geared up to carrying out investigations of routine malpractice by commercial organisations. However, they don't deal with the sort of one off problems nor the vast range or the number of problems experienced everyday by British consumers.

Of course, even Consumer Direct has not been known for baring its teeth and "getting the job done" - so maybe no great loss there. The OFT - well frankly they are almost an embarrassment to consumer rights - especially since their inept handling of the Bank Charges test case. In fact the main impact of the expected announcement is to confirm to us all what we have always known - You're on your own, Mate.

So who is left?

Well it looks like it is going to be down to the websites and of course that means the likes of The Consumer Action Group and Money Saving Expert. We'll do our best but clearly there isn't going to be much support from the people who should give it - the government. We are the Big Society - but Cameron clearly doesn't seem to realise that the big commercial organisations have a different game plan and it's You, the Consumer that they intending having for their lunch.

A cut too far : Coalition Government ‘turns its back' on UK consumers as BBC reports Consumer Focus & OFT to be scrapped

UK Consumers to be without a champion as BBC reports Consumer Focus to be scrapped. UK CONSUMERS will soon lose their greatest consumer champion according to BBC News who reported earlier today that Consumer Focus, the £6m-a-year publicly funded consumer champion for Scotland, England & Wales is to be scrapped as part of the Conservative/LibDem coalition UK Government’s soon-to-be-announced review of spending on public bodies. Also lining up to be axed in an approaching dawn firing squad is Consumer Direct & the OFT.

This is a bitter blow for consumers all across the UK, particularly in Scotland, where Consumer Focus Scotland, formed from the Scottish Consumer Council did important work for Scots consumer rights in many priority areas, especially those where few other voices or help existed for many fellow citizens trapped in our stagnant justice system as I have frequently covered over many years. As Consumer Focus Scotland receives much of its funding from London, it’s Glasgow based HQ faces an uncertain future, probably to be closed unless the Scottish Government take on the full funding cost which I cant see happening given the public service cuts being forced on us by London.

The work of the Scottish Consumer Council to quote one example out of many, has been instrumental in pushing for serious reforms to Scotland’s “Victorian” civil justice system by way of Lord Gill’s Civil Courts Review and also the SCC’s work promoting independent regulation of the legal profession. Without doubt I can say not only as a journalist but also as a law reform campaigner, the long road to reforms in the Scots justice system would not be as ‘advanced’ as they are now, had it not been for the invaluable work Consumer Focus Scotland has done for Scots consumers, albeit sometimes needing a little push here & there to keep up the pace.

Law Society’s Rogue lawyers & many others will benefit from Consumer Focus being scrapped. Scrapping Consumer Focus - a national consumer champion which costs a lot less than politicians expenses, and the money thrown at shady unaccountable political ‘think-tanks’ (to mention one of a million other well deserving savings the country should be making), will ensure all the rogue traders, rip-off merchants, crooks, con artists, villains, fraudsters, & overcharging industries will have a field day, ripping off British consumers at will, all apparently at the behest of the Taxpayers Alliance, who BBC News reports “wrote to Business Secretary Vince Cable on 8 October calling for Consumer Focus to be abolished, says it duplicates work done by private organisations such as the Consumers' Association.”

With all due respect Mr Cable, you would do well to refuse the Taxpayers Alliance on this one, and a few others too by the sounds of it.

Speaking on the BBC FOUR Radio’s Saturday MoneyBox programme, Matthew Sinclair Director of the Taxpayer’s Alliance said Consumer Focus was also too close to government to be fully effective. He said : "It does fulfil a function which is replicated in the private sector. It's not representing consumers because it can't speak against Government.”

Rubbish. Consumer Focus Scotland has done a terrific job for Scots consumers, as has Consumer Focus in England & Wales. Granted, Which? are a great organisation but they don't have any statutory powers as Consumer Focus have, and there are currently no private bodies who will be fully able to take on the work of Consumer Focus Scotland. For a start, Citizens Advice (CAB) in Scotland certainly have no capability or stature to take on all of Consumer Focus Scotland’s work and in my recent experience on the McKenzie Friend campaign, I’d have to say CAB are just not up to the job.

It seems the Westminster coalition’s knives are certainly being sharpened for consumers as another target of the slash & cut review is, amazingly the Office of Fair Trading, who along with Consumer Focus & Which? have been instrumental in many consumer reforms – and had it not been for the three bodies working together in many cases, the lobbying powers of the various industries or professions ripping off consumers on a daily basis would have prevented many reforms I am now able to report on such as wider access to justice for all Scots.

BBC Radio 4's MoneyBox is broadcast on Saturdays at 12 noon, and repeated on Sundays at 9pm. Download the podcast. The direct link to the audio file from the Saturday , 9 Oct 10 programme is here : Download 12MB (right click & "save target as") You can listen to it in Windows Media Player or any mp3 player.

Alternatively you can listen to the audio clip below, featuring the Moneybox report on Consumer Focus and its possible closure by the UK Government : (click on image to listen)

I would recommend any consumer with an interest in what happens to their consumer rights, and the standards of service they receive from any industry or profession in the UK, downloads & listens to this programme, especially taking note of the zeal in which Mr Sinclair and the Taxpayers Alliance want to kill off what has been one of the best products of consumer protection in the United Kingdom since … well, ever.

You might represent some taxpayers on this one Mr Sinclair, but you don't represent me.

If anyone feels like writing to Vince Cable MP, the Business Secretary, and support calls to retain Consumer Focus as one of our well deserved Consumer Champions, please email Mr Cable using the online correspondence form of his Department HERE or write to him at : Ministerial Correspondence Unit, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET.

If you value your consumer protection in this country, please write in to Mr Cable. I know I will be.

BBC News reports :

Consumer Focus faces axe in quango cull

By Paul Lewis
Presenter, Radio 4's Money Box

Consumer Focus, the body set up by the last Government to represent consumers and challenge companies, will be scrapped, the BBC has learned.

Other consumer bodies facing abolition include the Office of Fair Trading and Consumer Direct. Their activities will be taken over by Citizens Advice and Trading Standards offices. The Government refused to confirm or deny the changes ahead of an imminent announcement on public bodies.

Speaking on Radio 4's Money Box programme Consumer Focus chief executive Mike O'Connor, who warned his staff on Wednesday that their future was in doubt, would not confirm the move publicly. "Government has to take this decision and we wait to see what they have got to say."

But he defended the value for money of his organisation. "We cost the taxpayer in our core grant about £6m a year. Just last week we won a return to consumers of over £70m from the energy companies. And three months ago through our super complaint we changed the ISA rules so savers will get an extra £15m a year."

nPower has recently refunded £70m to 1.8 million customers who it had overcharged for gas in 2007. Banks will pay interest eight days earlier on ISAs that have been moved.

But the TaxPayers' Alliance, which wrote to Business Secretary Vince Cable on 8 October calling for Consumer Focus to be abolished, says it duplicates work done by private organisations such as the Consumers' Association.

Speaking on the programme its director Matthew Sinclair said Consumer Focus was also too close to government to be fully effective. "It does fulfil a function which is replicated in the private sector. It's not representing consumers because it can't speak against Government," he said.

Mike O'Connor said that no other organisation had its powers or could be so effective. "The Consumers' Association does not have the powers which we do. We have a vital power, we can make companies and regulators and government give us information so you may be asking people to do things but without the powers that we have."

The BBC has also learned that Citizens Advice is being lined up to take over the activities of Consumer Direct, which offers free help over the phone to consumers who are victims of scams or want advice on their rights. The Office of Fair Trading, which took the long running but ultimately unsuccessful case over the banks' overdraft charges, will be merged with the Competition Commission. The Government has discussed passing the OFT's consumer activities - including court action - to trading standards departments in local authorities.

Mick McAteer, founder and Director of the Financial Inclusion Centre, told Money Box: "If you take away one of the main bodies whose tasks is to represent consumers I think you will undermine consumer protection."

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said the report on the future of hundreds of public bodies "is likely to happen in the next couple of weeks." She would not comment on the claims that these consumer bodies would be scrapped or merged.

'Choice' but not as we know it : Legal Services Bill passed, Scots access to justice remains mostly under Law Society's control

Scottish Parliament passed Legal Services Bill, doing no particular favours for consumers. THE Legal Services Bill was finally passed by MSPs at the Scottish Parliament late yesterday afternoon after what can only be described as a round of ‘buy one amendment get one free’ set of deals between the Scottish Government & Law Society of Scotland ensuring consumer choice & competition in Scotland’s legal services marketplace will for the most part, remain out of reach of Scots consumers.

The Law Society are happy as are most of the big law firms in Scotland who supported the bill, happy their fiefdom of the Scottish legal services market has been preserved once again, and ‘meddling outsiders’ kept out of Scotland’s multi billion pound racket legal business. As for the Consumer bodies, well, most of them are just having to put a brave face on things and say they ‘welcome’ the bill which we all know is a mere shadow of England’s soon to come into force Clementi proposals and the Which? supercomplaint which began the whole Legal Services Bill process in Scotland.

Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing, said the bill would deliver benefits to lawyers & clients, after being forced by the Law Society to amend access to justice plans. The Scottish Government’s Minister for Community Safety Fergus Ewing commenting on the passage of the bill through the Scottish Parliament said: "The passage of the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill today is good news for our businesses and consumers. At the heart of this Bill is a desire to modernise the profession. It presents greater opportunities, in a regulated framework, for firms of all sizes to be more competitive and to devise a business model which suits them and their clients.”

He ended by saying : "The Bill will deliver clear benefits for the legal profession and consumers."

The Law Society’s media release reflected the profession’s welcome relief their cash registers will still be ringing up huge charges & fees to clients for some of the western world’s worst quality legal services. The Law Society were quick to gloat their amendments, forced on the weak SNP minority controlled Scottish Executive “meant the ‘Tesco law’ option, which would have allowed 100% of non-solicitor ownership of a law firm, was ruled out for Scotland.”

The Law Society release went onto triumphantly announce : “The legislation will for the first time allow non-solicitors to set up in partnership with solicitors to provide legal services in Scotland. The Bill, as passed, will mean solicitors and other regulated professionals must still have a majority share of at least 51% in any new legal services business, with the remaining 49% open to other external investors.”

Jamie Millar, president of the Law Society whose own law firm Lindsays is linked to a dishonest firm of Borders solicitors, said: “I am pleased that MSPs have voted to approve this legislation. These changes will broaden access to legal services and allow the Scottish legal profession to remain competitive against a challenging economic backdrop and in an increasingly international, competitive market. At the same time, the Bill continues to protect the principles and core values that underpin the Scottish legal profession.”

He continued : "There has been much debate, both within and outwith the legal profession, on this Bill and its provisions to allow solicitors to enter into practice with non-solicitors. However, it is now important to move forward and ensure these changes work in practice within the strongest possible regulatory framework. The Society intends to work with government to enhance the provision of legal services and access to justice for people in Scotland.”

One client who has been involved in a bitter 5 year battle with the Law Society and has faced problems in securing legal representation after several law firms dumped him over a case involving a complaint regarding his original solicitor’s embezzlement of over £60,000 from the sale of land scoffed at Mr Millar’s statement.

He said “What principles and core values of the legal profession is Mr Millar talking about ? I know of one solicitor who is a cocaine user, another who is a convicted paedophile, another who was charged with raping & assaulting his own wife, and another who has defrauded over 15 clients of several million pounds yet each of these crooks are still practising law in Scotland.”

He continued : “Mr Millar and his colleagues are talking a lot of rubbish when they talk about values of the legal profession and access to justice. There are no values and there is no access to justice. People should wake up to realise their solicitors and those in charge of regulating them are not be as clean as they claim to be.”

Consumer Focus Scotland’s Director, Marieke Dwarshuis commented in a statement on the Legal Services Bill vote, saying : “We are delighted that Parliament has voted in favour of widening choice and protection for users of legal services and increasing access to justice. We have long argued that these changes are in the interest of consumers and are pleased that today’s vote will pave the way for the development of a legal services market which better meets the needs of the public.”

Ms Dwarshuis continued : “We recognise that there are many who remain sceptical about the benefits the Bill will bring about, but are confident that in time, most will come to accept that the legislation will be effective for both users of legal services and the legal profession.”

Which? also ‘welcomed’ the Legal Services Bill. A spokesperson for Which?, whose supercomplaint began the Legal Services Bill’s peculiarly Scottish journey, in comparison to the much easier and stronger pro-consumer friendly Legal Services Act (2007) for England & Wales, said : “We are delighted to welcome the Bill which will improve legal services for the public in Scotland.”

Doubtless however, some at Which? must be feeling a touch put out over the way the Law Society of Scotland so easily butchered their proposals for free market competition in legal services, as what was passed yesterday in the Scottish Parliament clearly puts Scots consumers on a less choice, less protected, lower standard of service footing than consumers in England & Wales.

The Office of Fair Trading, who issued a report calling for changes to Scotland’s closed shop legal services market has issued no press release or comment.

I could easily write something along the lines of ... I find it hard to believe the Law Society were able to amend the bill, bully the Scottish Government to introduce amendments, call in msps for ‘personal briefings’, suggesting they follow the profession's line to “avoid trouble further down the line”, ensure consumers or anyone with an actual experience of how legal services are provided were not allowed to testify in public to the Justice Committee ... but there wouldn't be much point, as what some might find hard to believe, happened, and I covered it as the Legal Services Bill progressed through Holyrood, here : Legal Services Bill - How Scotland's legal profession avoided giving consumers wider access to justice

In my opinion, the whole debate on the Legal Services Bill can be summed up in one short television appearance between Mike Dailly & former Law Society President Ian Smart. It really was nothing more than a battle for market share and power between factions of the legal profession … nothing really to do with consumers at all. You can watch the video of Ian Smart & Mike Dailly slogging it out on live television here : Law Society President Ian Smart v Govan Centre's Mike Dailly on Legal Services Bill reforms. There would have also been a good video clip of Fergus Ewing caving into solicitors during a Law Society meeting, however the Law Society pulled the clip from their own website for reasons unknown - or perhaps so the public couldn’t see how easy it is for the legal profession to influence an elected politician.

Video coverage of key points of testimony on the Legal Services Bill to the Justice Committee by the legal profession and consumer groups, can be viewed in my earlier reports or at InjusticeTV & LawyerTV

I'd be happy if someone could prove me wrong - quote me an example if you can .. however the odds are stacked against consumer rights taking precedence over the legal profession in Scotland and every single piece of legislation, order or amendment passed by the Scottish Parliament concerning legal services or regulation of our country's legal system since the Scottish Parliament came into existence in 1997 leaves the consumer interest far behind that of the legal profession - even the Legal profession & Legal aid Scotland Act 2007, passed in a similar blaze of glory, gory & Law Society sponsored resistance at Holyrood, which as we all now know has ended up a brutalised, watered down, now almost useless piece of legislation in terms of consumer protection from Scotland's historically poor quality legal services market.

If anything can be learned from the way the Scottish Parliament handled the Legal Services Bill I'd say its this - collectively, msps in the Scottish Parliament cannot be trusted to pass a piece of legislation involving the legal system which puts the rights of ordinary members of the public over & above the interests of the legal profession. Its as simple as that. There is no other conclusion someone outside the Scots legal system’s bubble can reach on the available evidence.

It is with some irony that on the same day England & Wales placed the consumers interests first, moving to fully independent regulation of their legal services market, Scotland took a backward step which will see the Law Society of Scotland ultimately appointed by the current SNP controlled Scottish Executive as an “approved regulator” to wipe the floor with consumer complaints against legal services once again.

On this note, consumers in Scotland who actually value what they have left in their lives, what they have worked for, what they own, what assets they have, might wish to consider using legal services in England if at all possible because at least consumers might have better protection from independent regulation in the form of the new Legal Ombudsman for England & Wales, which at least so far, appears to be a world of difference from any Scottish solution born from the Law Society of Scotland’s grip over Scots legal reform …