Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the level of access small rural communities have to legal advice services.

Supporting access to justice for everyone in England and Wales is a key objective for this Government.

We recognise that accessing legal services can be more challenging in some areas than others, and that some people are digitally excluded and will require access to in-person provision. We support a mix of legal aid service provision including face-to-face, telephone and remote support for eligible people. People can use the ‘Find a legal aid adviser’ tool on GOV.UK to locate nearby solicitors or call the Civil Legal Advice helpline for advice on housing, debt, education and discrimination. Where local provision is limited, we signpost users to providers able to support clients remotely. Through our legal support grants and online advice services such as Advice Now, the Ministry of Justice is supporting delivery of in-person and online legal support for people with social welfare problems in England and Wales.

We are taking steps to improve access to and availability of legal support and legal aid. We have announced nearly £20 million of multi-year grant funding up to March 2029, for the delivery of legal support. In December 2025, we announced uplifts to immigration and housing legal aid fees in civil legal aid – the first major uplift since 1996. This will inject an additional £20 million into the civil legal aid sector each year once fully implemented. We are also providing additional funding of up to £34 million a year for criminal legal aid advocates, alongside a commitment to match-fund a number of criminal barrister pupillages. This is on top of the £92 million a year of additional funding for solicitors which we have recently introduced.