Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

In the past, the Attorney-General tried to promote the cause of Public Legal Education. This role seems now to have been delegated to the Solicitor-General.

In October 2018, the current post-holder, Robert Buckland MP launched a new ‘vision’ to which he hoped interested organisations would sign up.

The Press Release stated:

The statement creates a shared vision for the PLE community to aspire to which will help drive forward legal education initiatives. The statement reveals 7 goals for where PLE might be in 10 years’ time.

The goals are:

1. PLE will be supported by a robust evidence base, showing what the need is and what works best.

2. PLE will be of high quality, maintained to ensure that it remains accurate and accessible and useful for the people who need it.

3. PLE will be universal and reach across all demographics, prioritising children, young adults and vulnerable groups

4. PLE will be scaled up through delivery by the legal community

5. PLE will harness technology and be delivered through innovative methods, both on and offline

6. PLE will be embeded into public services and government departments

7. PLE will be understood as beneficial and utlised by other sectors

Whether much can be achieved without additional investment in the development of PLE must be a moot point, but I suppose that a statement such as this is better than nothing. The statement was launched at an event organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Public Legal Education and Pro Bono legal work.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/our-vision-for-legal-education