Lord Chancellor awards Charter Mark to Libraries

On Wednesday 25th October 2000 the Lord Chancellor, The Lord lrvine of Lairg, celebrated a significant achievement in the development of the Government's Community Legal Service.

At the event, chaired by Graham Creeiman, Managing Director Anglia TV and chair of Living East (Formerly the East of England Cultural Consortium), the Lord Chancellor awarded the new Community Legal Service Quality Mark to all ten local authority library services in the East of England, representing a total of almost 300 libraries.

The Community Legal Service is the framework for comprehensive local networks of good quality legal and advice services, supported by co-ordinated funding, and based on the needs of local people. It is a major Government initiative to improve people's access to legal information and assistance and was launched in April 2000.

The Community Legal Service Quality Mark has been developed to help people place trust in the system. Libraries that display the Quality Mark logo have passed a quality check to ensure that they meet an agreed minimum standard of service as a Community Legal Service Information Point.

When a library is used as a first point of call by a member of the public needing access to legal services, library staff at the bigger libraries will ensure that clients are signposted (or referred) to the most appropriate source of help. Staff will obtain the information they need to do this from the Community Legal Service Directory available in both hard copy and on the 'Just Ask' web site. In smaller libraries, members of the public will use the Directory themselves so that they can identify the organisation they need to talk to.

The Lord Chancellor said, "The CLS Quality Mark comprises three different levels, depending on the type of service provided; an Information Service, General Help Service or Specialist Help Service. It is excellent, nothing short of excellent, that public libraries across the East of England have become Quality Marked Information Services and we are very keen to encourage as many other public outlets as possible to become Quality Marked Information Points. For the moment, Information points are to be found in libraries and courts, but they will soon extend to Benefits Agency offices and to police stations. Other potential information providers include hospitals, GP surgeries and Post Offices".

Legal Services Commission: Eastern Regional Office.

(Spring 2001 Easterner)