Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) women, (b) men and (c) people of BAME background were in receipt of civil legal aid in each year since 2012.

The Ministry of Justice publishes the information you have enquired about as part of the Legal Aid Agency’s National Statistics. These can be accessed at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics

Information on matter starts in the family category, as well as a breakdown by type of family law for claims subsequently submitted, is included within part 5 of the aforesaid statistical tables. A breakdown by type of family law is not available for volumes of matters started as this is captured when a case concludes.

Information on the number of family mediation matters started is included within part 7 of the LAA’s statistical tables.

Information on client ethnicity, disability status, gender and age is included in the Diversity data package, published annually by the MoJ for the LAA. A summary of the specific data you have enquired about is annexed.