Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to tackle court and tribunal backlogs.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The pandemic and barristers’ disruptive action created a significant challenge for our courts, but we are working hard to reduce outstanding caseloads across all jurisdictions.
Thanks to our investment in judicial recruitment, we expect to recruit over 1,000 judges this financial year across all jurisdictions.
We are investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work in our court buildings over the next two years.
We also continue work to maximise the capacity of the tribunals, aided by a new electronic case management system.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance made by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2022 resulted in a grant of legal assistance.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such, applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance were made by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2022.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such, applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests were made for legal assistance by asylum applicants for their initial asylum application in 2022.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such, applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department plans to respond the letter from the victims’ commissioner for London, Claire Waxman, and others on the use of unregulated psychological experts in the family courts.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
I thank both Claire Waxman and the Survivor Family Network for their letters on the use of unregulated experts in the family courts. This is an important issue, and we take the concerns raised within the letters seriously. We are actively considering our response and will be replying to both Claire Waxman and the Survivor Family Network ahead of the summer recess.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2021 resulted in a grant of legal assistance.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.
Some information regarding overall volumes of immigration and asylum cases funded under Legal Help is published in the LAA’s official statistics at table 5.1-5.3. The statistics can be accessed via the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-july-to-september-2021.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests were made for legal assistance by asylum applicants in relation to their initial asylum application in 2021.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.
Some information regarding overall volumes of immigration and asylum cases funded under Legal Help is published in the LAA’s official statistics at table 5.1-5.3. The statistics can be accessed via the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-july-to-september-2021.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many requests for legal assistance were made by asylum applicants during the first instance procedure in 2021.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Information about the total number of requests for this type of legal assistance is not held. Such assistance, where provided by legal aid, is funded under the ‘Legal Help’ scheme. Decisions about eligibility for this form of services are delegated to legal aid providers. As such applications are not made directly to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Consequently, the LAA does not hold data regarding overall volumes of requests for assistance or the number of requests for assistance that are refused.
Some information regarding overall volumes of immigration and asylum cases funded under Legal Help is published in the LAA’s official statistics at table 5.1-5.3. The statistics can be accessed via the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-july-to-september-2021.