English: Well, first of all, yes, I will be happy to meet with you and any other Members in respect of the issue of access to justice and the issues around legal aid. It's an issue which in previous Senedd sessions I've spoken on, and, of course, is a matter that very much engages the concerns, I think, of the judiciary and also of the Thomas commission. When legal aid was introduced in 1948, Viscount Simon, presenting the report, described it basically as an NHS of legal advice and support for the people. He said: 'I therefore commend this Report to the House with this simple reflection, that whatever the difficulties may be in the way of poverty, no citizen should fail to get the legal aid or advice which is so necessary to establish his or her full rights. I holdthat this is an essential reform in a true democracy'. And I think that comment stands as much today as it did when NHS was in. What is unfortunate, I think, in some ways, is that the ethos of the purpose of legal advice and support is being reduced to an issue of cost rather than it is about fundamental empowerment of people within a democracy. This is an issue that's been raised. Lord Neuberger as president of the Supreme Court raised this particular issue, and basically said that: 'Cutting the cost of legal aid deprives the very people who most need the protection of the courts of the ability to get legal advice and representation.' And another Supreme Court judge in 2018, Lord Wilson, said that: 'Even where it is required to continue to provide free legal aid, for example to defendants to criminal charges and to parents threatened with the removal of their children, the UK is dismantling it indirectly by setting rates of remuneration for the lawyers at levels so uncommercial that, reluctantly, most of them feel unable to do that work. Access to justice is under threat in the UK.' And it has been for some time, and you only need to look at the figures over the past decade. In 2011, the real terms value of spending on legal aid in Wales was £128 million; the amount of spend on legal aid now is £80 million - a 37 per cent reduction. A reduction, in fact, compared with a 28 per cent reduction in England, and I think what that does is reflect the actual demand for legal support in Wales has not been so much within the criminal field, but it's been very much within the social arena. Effectively, we have now advice deserts. Welsh Government has invested enormous amounts of money -
Welsh: Wel, yn gyntaf oll, rwy'n fodlon cyfarfod â chi ac unrhyw Aelodau eraill mewn perthynas â mynediad at gyfiawnder a'r materion sy'n ymwneud â chymorth cyfreithiol. Mae'n fater rwyf wedi siarad amdano mewn sesiynau blaenorol yn y Senedd, ac wrth gwrs, mae'n ennyn pryderon y farnwriaeth a chomisiwn Thomas hefyd. Pan gyflwynwyd cymorth cyfreithiol ym 1948, wrth gyflwyno'r adroddiad, cafodd ei ddisgrifio gan yr Is-iarll Simon yn y bôn fel GIG o gyngor a chymorth cyfreithiol i'r bobl. Dywedodd: 'Felly, cymeradwyaf yr Adroddiad hwn i'r Tŷ gyda'r ystyriaeth syml hon, na ddylai unrhyw ddinesydd, beth bynnag fo'r anawsterau sy'n deillio o dlodi, fethu cael y cymorth neu'r cyngor cyfreithiol sydd mor angenrheidiol i sefydlu ei hawliau llawn. Rwyf o'r farn bod hwn yn ddiwygiad hanfodol mewn gwir ddemocratiaeth'. A chredaf fod y sylw hwnnw yr un mor wir heddiw â phan ddaeth y GIG i fodolaeth. Yr hyn sy'n anffodus mewn rhai ffyrdd yn fy marn i yw bod ethos diben cyngor a chymorth cyfreithiol yn cael ei leihau i fod yn fater o gost yn hytrach nag o rymuso pobl yn sylfaenol mewn democratiaeth. Mae hwn yn fater sydd wedi cael sylw. Cafodd ei grybwyll gan yr Arglwydd Neuberger, fel llywydd y Goruchaf Lys, a ddywedodd: 'Mae torri cost cymorth cyfreithiol yn amddifadu'r union bobl sydd fwyaf o angen i'r llysoedd amddiffyn eu gallu i gael cyngor a chynrychiolaeth gyfreithiol.' A dywedodd barnwr Goruchaf Lys arall yn 2018, yr Arglwydd Wilson: 'Hyd yn oed lle mae'n ofynnol parhau i ddarparu cymorth cyfreithiol am ddim, er enghraifft i ddiffynyddion sy'n wynebu cyhuddiadau troseddol ac i rieni sy'n wynebu bygythiad y bydd eu plant yn cael eu cymryd oddi arnynt, mae'r DU yn ei ddatgymalu'n anuniongyrchol drwy osod cyfraddau taliadau ariannol i gyfreithwyr ar lefelau mor anfasnachol fel bod y rhan fwyaf ohonynt yn teimlo, yn gyndyn, na allant wneud y gwaith hwnnw. Mae mynediad at gyfiawnder dan fygythiad yn y DU.' Ac mae wedi bod ers peth amser, ac nid oes ond angen i chi edrych ar y ffigurau dros y degawd diwethaf. Yn 2011, gwerth y gwariant ar gymorth cyfreithiol yng Nghymru mewn termau real oedd £128 miliwn; swm y gwariant ar gymorth cyfreithiol yn awr yw £80 miliwn - gostyngiad o 37 y cant. Gostyngiad sy'n cymharu â gostyngiad o 28 y cant yn Lloegr mewn gwirionedd, a chredaf fod hynny'n dangos nad yn y maes troseddol y bu'r galw gwirioneddol am gymorth cyfreithiol yng Nghymru fel y cyfryw, ond yn hytrach yn bendant iawn yn yr arena gymdeithasol. I bob pwrpas, mae gennym brinder o gyngor bellach. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi buddsoddi symiau enfawr o arian -