Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Legal Aid 2023-03-28 (2)

Tuesday 28 March 2023 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 3 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Legal aid is granted only to individuals with specific regulations under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
  • The Legal Aid Agency reviews all cases to ensure that funding decisions are necessary and appropriate.
  • The Legal Aid Agency monitors repeat applications for funding to ensure each application is warranted.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Laurence Robertson Con
Justice & Courts Standards & Ethics
Context

The question arises from concerns about the use of legal aid in multi-party applications and its impact on individual cases.

Question

If he will take steps to ensure that legal aid is used only for cases which relate to individual cases; and if he will make a statement. Legal aid must be granted only to individuals with specific regulations, but there are concerns about the use of taxpayers' money in challenging democratically arrived decisions.

Answer from Mike Freer

Legal aid is granted only to individuals with specific regulations. Changes made in 2012 allow legal aid for participants in MPAs only where each individual has a cause of action and will directly benefit from proceedings, under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

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Q2 Laurence Robertson Con
Justice & Courts Democracy & Elections
Context

Following changes made in 2012, there are concerns that legal aid is still being used to challenge democratically arrived decisions.

Question

I thank the Minister for that response and I welcome the changes that have been made, but it still seems to be the case that sometimes, legal aid or connected taxpayers' money can be used to challenge decisions that have been democratically arrived at and would, in fact, benefit communities. Will the Minister make a statement?

Answer from Mike Freer

The Legal Aid Agency reviews all cases to ensure that funding decisions are necessary and appropriate, including ensuring each individual has a cause of action.

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Q3 Gregory Campbell DUP East Londonderry
Justice & Courts Standards & Ethics
Context

There are concerns about the cost of repeated legal aid cases for the same application and the need for public awareness.

Question

Does the Minister agree that legal aid availability is a very important part of the justice system, but it is equally important that the wider community becomes aware of the cost of repeated cases of legal aid for the same application, so that there is full transparency among the wider public about what they are paying for?

Answer from Mike Freer

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. The Legal Aid Agency will always monitor cases where we get repeat applications for funding to ensure that any application is warranted before being agreed.

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