THE CHAIRMAN of Citizen’s Advice Scotland told the organisation they must continue to evolve as he addressed their annual conference for the final time in Dundee yesterday.

Dundee-born Bob Brodie, a former solicitor to Secretary of State for Scotland Donald Dewar, will officially stand down in November but was attending his last conference in the position he has held for the past five years.

Mr Brodie, who was first elected as chairman in 1999 after his retirement from government service, told delegates that although recent years had seen a transformation in the way Scotland’s 77 Citizens Advice Bureaux carry out their work, they cannot afford to rest on their laurels.

“It has been a great privilege to be involved as chair of the CAB service over these past five years—a service which plays a vital role in ensuring the citizens of Scotland have access to confidential, free, impartial and independent advice,” he said.

“Information technology has transformed how we do our work. The changes in the past five years have been stunning—a ‘paperless’ Citizens Advice Bureaux is no longer a pipe dream.

“But, to keep ahead of the game, we must always keep on the lookout for better and smarter ways to do our work.

“We are, and have been for the past 65 years, the market leader in the advice sector, but that is not a God-given right.

“History is littered with instances of the market leader resting on its laurels and being overtaken.”

However, Mr Brodie said it was vital that the CAB remained true to its core principles.

“This does not mean that we should abandon what we have been doing—change for change’s sake is pointless and dangerous. Nor does it mean that we should abandon our founding principles.

“What it does mean is that we should have to be prepared to examine critically everything we are doing, decide whether we should continue doing it, and decide how best to do it.

“This is a service which is not frightened of change; a service which, in fact, is open to change where it is to the advantage of the citizen, and which looks forward to ensuring that no one in the 21st century need be without good, clear, independent and unbiased advice,” he added.