Commons Sense

House of Commons · Westminster Hall

Legal Aid: North-West — [Yvonne Fovargue in the Chair]

22 February 2022 · 4 other contributors · 8,157 words

Opened by Rebecca Long-Bailey Lab Salford

Responding minister: James Cartlidge

Justice & Courts

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

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Rebecca Long-Bailey raised concerns about legal aid: north-west — [yvonne fovargue in the chair] in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.

Key points

  • Legal aid provision in the north-west has over 47,000 outstanding cases.
  • Criminal legal aid firms have significantly decreased since 2012.
  • The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) restricts access to legal representation for welfare benefits and immigration.

Key requests to Government

The Government must address three major causes: austerity's impact on legal aid funding, outdated tendering processes that hinder provider entry, and inadequate legal aid rates. The Minister should commit today to raising civil legal aid rates in line with inflation since 2020 and implementing the independent review of criminal legal aid recommendations by increasing rates by 15%.

How the debate unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.

Opened the debate

Rebecca Long-Bailey Lab Salford

The provision of legal aid in the north-west is under severe strain, with over 47,000 outstanding cases and a significant drop in criminal legal aid firms since 2012. The number of ineffective trials has increased by over 5,000 since 2020. In civil legal aid, nearly half of residents live in areas without housing providers and over sixty percent lack community care providers. These issues are exacerbated by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO), which restricted access to legal representation for many essential services like welfare benefits and immigration.

Other contributors (4)
  • Afzal Khan Lab Manchester Rusholme

    The legal aid system is broken, with thousands in the north-west impacted by underfunding and strict means tests. The number of criminal legal aid litigators has fallen by almost 30% since 2012-13 in the north-west, leading to a shortage of lawyers and an increase in outstanding cases. Since 2020, there have been over 5,000 ineffective trials due to unavailability of counsel or other issues.

  • Dan Carden Lab Liverpool Walton

    Access to justice is a fundamental right, and deep cuts to legal aid have denied people their legal rights. There has been a 41% reduction in solicitors firms providing legal aid in Merseyside since 2012-13, along with a 20% fall in criminal legal aid providers. Dan Carden highlighted the importance of free legal advice clinics and shared an email from a constituent who benefited from such services. He argued for increased funding for both criminal and civil legal aid rates to ensure ongoing provision and support for communities. Asked the Minister about support for police officers preparing legal files and when civil legal aid fees will be reviewed. Civil legal aid fees have been frozen for 20 years, eroded by inflation, and there is a need for a full review of its financial sustainability.

  • Kim Johnson Lab Liverpool Riverside

    Kim Johnson highlighted the devastating impact of the pandemic and Tory austerity cuts on the justice system, noting legal aid reductions and increased court fees have left many vulnerable individuals without necessary support. She mentioned the struggles faced by law centres in Liverpool and the Hillsborough families' fight for justice without adequate legal funding, advocating for the implementation of the Hillsborough Law to ensure proper legal support for bereaved families at inquests.

  • Mick Whitley Lab Birkenhead

    There is no incentive for lawyers or firms to engage in legal aid work due to falling fees over the past three decades. In Merseyside, criminal aid providers have fallen by a fifth in just 10 years, and there are now only seven organisations with contracts to offer welfare benefit services in the north-west—one for every million people. With 46,000 cases waiting to be heard by the courts, justice is delayed for thousands of victims, witnesses, and perpetrators.

Government Response

James Cartlidge

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Ms Fovargue. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Salford and Eccles (Rebecca Long Bailey) for calling this very important debate. The Government are committed to ensuring that everyone can get the timely support they need to access the justice system. We usually spend around £1.7 billion annually on legal aid, which provides crucial support for the most vulnerable in society. While that amount was lower in 2020-21 due to the impact of the pandemic—after all, the number of cases being heard collapsed for several months—we put in place measures to support practitioners and are working to reduce the court backlog. We expect to have returned to an annual spend of more than £1.7 billion on legal aid by the end of the current financial year. The Government announced £477 million of additional funding in the spending review settlement primarily for Crown court recovery, which shows our commitment to addressing the backlog. The hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mick Whitley) mentioned the Judicial Review and Courts Bill, which includes important measures that will see more cases moving from the Crown court to the magistrates court, freeing up potentially 2,000 days in the Crown court where we can hear cases. We are also carefully considering a way forward following a consultation on the establishment of an independent public advocate function, including the Public Advocate Bill promoted by the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle). Regarding civil legal aid sustainability, the Government have consulted on proposed changes to the housing possession court duty scheme—the HPCDS—to ensure the sustainability of the service and ensure that it meets the needs of the people using it. The consultation proposals would amount to a more than £7 million investment in this vital service. Officials at the Ministry of Justice are currently reviewing the responses to the HPCDS consultation, and the Government intend to publish their response shortly. We have just completed a wide-ranging review of the long-term sustainability of the criminal legal aid market and injected up to £51 million per annum into the criminal legal aid system through payments for reviewing unused material, sending cases to the Crown Court and increasing funding for cracked trials and paper-heavy cases. The Government aim to publish their response no later than the end of March 2022, alongside a consultation on related policy proposals.

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