Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the cost of legal representation and court proceedings does not prevent individuals from accessing justice; and whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of legal aid eligibility thresholds in meeting that objective.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to the provision of legal aid, recognising the vital role that it plays in underpinning genuine access to justice.
We are considering our approach to eligibility across legal aid, including carefully assessing the impact of the recommendations made by the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts
This Government inherited a legal system in crisis, and we are taking steps to invest in legal aid.
We are providing additional funding of up to £34 million a year for criminal legal aid advocates alongside our commitment to match fund a number of criminal barrister pupillages. This is in addition to the investment of £92 million in the solicitor fee schemes.
Alongside this, we have also announced an uplift to immigration and housing legal aid fees. This amounts to a significant investment of £20 million a year once fully implemented – the first major increase since 1996.
Furthermore, we are delivering the largest expansion of civil legal aid in a decade, enabling bereaved families to access non-means tested legal aid at all inquests where a public authority is an interested person.
Beyond legal aid, this Government is also providing over £6 million of grant funding in 2025-2026 to support access to legal support services for people with social welfare problems. We have also announced nearly £20 million of multi-year funding to extend existing grant programmes to September 2026 and providing a new grant from October 2026 to March 2029.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the legal aid means test thresholds; and whether he plans to update them.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to the provision of legal aid, recognising the vital role that it plays in underpinning genuine access to justice.
We are considering our approach to eligibility across legal aid, including carefully assessing the impact of the recommendations made by the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts
This Government inherited a legal system in crisis, and we are taking steps to invest in legal aid.
We are providing additional funding of up to £34 million a year for criminal legal aid advocates alongside our commitment to match fund a number of criminal barrister pupillages. This is in addition to the investment of £92 million in the solicitor fee schemes.
Alongside this, we have also announced an uplift to immigration and housing legal aid fees. This amounts to a significant investment of £20 million a year once fully implemented – the first major increase since 1996.
Furthermore, we are delivering the largest expansion of civil legal aid in a decade, enabling bereaved families to access non-means tested legal aid at all inquests where a public authority is an interested person.
Beyond legal aid, this Government is also providing over £6 million of grant funding in 2025-2026 to support access to legal support services for people with social welfare problems. We have also announced nearly £20 million of multi-year funding to extend existing grant programmes to September 2026 and providing a new grant from October 2026 to March 2029.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of compensating firms for unpaid labour resulting from the Legal Aid Agency data breach.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We appreciate the constructive way in which legal aid providers have worked with us following the serious criminal attack on the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) digital systems. They have continued to do vital work in challenging circumstances.
Since systems were restored in December 2025, the LAA has processed civil casework, both applications and bills, for the work undertaken by providers during the system outage. Where individual providers believe they have incurred additional billable costs, these can be claimed through the normal billing processes set out in the Costs Assessment Guidance.
We appreciate that some providers have raised concerns regarding additional administrative burdens related to contingency operations. We have worked with stakeholders to simplify processes wherever possible. This has included testing new service functionality with providers before launch and refining services based on the feedback received. For example, we extended the Average Payment Scheme for civil certificated work and temporarily suspended activities such as audits to ease administrative pressures. We have also continued to update guidance and FAQs in direct response to stakeholder input to provide clearer, more streamlined support for providers. Our priority now is working through the backlog of cases which is currently progressing well. All providers will be paid for the legal services provided under their legal aid contracts. We have no plans to set up a compensation scheme.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether revenue raised under his Department's proposed Interest on Lawyer's Client Accounts scheme will be earmarked to support access to justice.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to the biggest expansion of legal aid in a generation as part of the Hillsborough Law and are investing millions on reforming the courts system through unlimited sitting days and better maintaining courts to deliver a world-class justice system.
Funding from an Interest on Lawyers’ Client Accounts (ILCA) scheme will play a crucial role in achieving these priorities from 2028/9 onwards.
The Government has published a consultation on ILCA that closed on 9 March 2026, including how income from such a scheme might be invested. We will carefully consider all responses and provide an official response.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on Ann Limb, what is the status of the issuing the Letters Patent under the Great Seal for Ann Limb’s peerage.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
On 5 February 2026, Dame Ann Limb, DBE was created a Life Peer by Letters Patent sealed under the Great Seal. This was formally announced via a notice placed in the London and Edinburgh Gazettes: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/5049850.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to reply to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Horsham of 6 January 2026.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We apologise for the delay in responding to this letter. As it requires input from multiple government departments, it has not been possible to respond within the usual timeframe. A response is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) performance standards and (b) key performance indicators on the timeliness of prisoner arrivals at court are set out within the contract for Prisoner Escort and Custody Services.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contracts specify that the contractor shall deliver prisoners to court by the required times to ensure the efficient and effective running of courts without delay. The key performance indicator relating to the timeliness of prisoner arrivals in court is Contract Delivery Indicator 15, at Annex 1 to Schedule 5 of the contract.
The PECS contracts can be found in the Contracts Finder on the GOV.UK website:
Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (Generation 4) - Lot North - Contracts Finder.
Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (Generation 4) - Lot South - Contracts Finder.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any civil servants hired by his Department were recruited over another person on the basis of a protected characteristic in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice welcomes and encourages applications from everyone irrespective of background, identity, experience, or circumstance, and particularly those underrepresented in our workforce. The Department does not appoint candidates on the basis of protected characteristics. Appointments are made in merit order, in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to raise public awareness of the legal distinctions between marriage and cohabitation in England and Wales ahead of the consultation on cohabitation rights reform.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As set out in our manifesto, the Government is committed to strengthening the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples. Cohabitation reform is a matter of utmost importance, and we will be consulting this Spring on how best to deliver this commitment. The consultation will consider how best to strengthen the rights of cohabitating couples and the circumstances in which protections may apply, while firmly upholding marriage as one of our most important institutions.
The Government also recognises the challenge posed by the mistaken belief in the myth of “common law marriage”. To improve public awareness of the legal distinction between marriage and cohabitation, we updated GOV.UK guidance last year to set out the legal position clearly. In addition, from September 2026, the updated Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education statutory guidance will also state that schools should teach that “common-law marriage” is a myth by the end of secondary school, helping to tackle persistent misconceptions and improve public understanding of the law.
Legal aid is currently available to a person in a cohabiting couple for some private family proceedings, such as child arrangement orders and transfers of tenancies, where they are a victim of domestic abuse or are at risk of abuse. Funding is subject to providing evidence of domestic abuse and passing the means and merits tests. Where an issue falls outside the scope of legal aid, for example, cohabiting partners seeking to resolve property disputes upon separation, individuals can apply for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF). ECF will be granted if, without legal aid, there is a risk that the person’s human rights may be breached. ECF applications are determined by the Legal Aid Agency on an individual basis. This Government keeps legal aid policy under review.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of legal aid to cohabiting partners seeking to resolve property disputes upon separation.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As set out in our manifesto, the Government is committed to strengthening the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples. Cohabitation reform is a matter of utmost importance, and we will be consulting this Spring on how best to deliver this commitment. The consultation will consider how best to strengthen the rights of cohabitating couples and the circumstances in which protections may apply, while firmly upholding marriage as one of our most important institutions.
The Government also recognises the challenge posed by the mistaken belief in the myth of “common law marriage”. To improve public awareness of the legal distinction between marriage and cohabitation, we updated GOV.UK guidance last year to set out the legal position clearly. In addition, from September 2026, the updated Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education statutory guidance will also state that schools should teach that “common-law marriage” is a myth by the end of secondary school, helping to tackle persistent misconceptions and improve public understanding of the law.
Legal aid is currently available to a person in a cohabiting couple for some private family proceedings, such as child arrangement orders and transfers of tenancies, where they are a victim of domestic abuse or are at risk of abuse. Funding is subject to providing evidence of domestic abuse and passing the means and merits tests. Where an issue falls outside the scope of legal aid, for example, cohabiting partners seeking to resolve property disputes upon separation, individuals can apply for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF). ECF will be granted if, without legal aid, there is a risk that the person’s human rights may be breached. ECF applications are determined by the Legal Aid Agency on an individual basis. This Government keeps legal aid policy under review.