Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps are being taken to improve legal representation for individuals with mental health conditions.

The Government supports people with mental health conditions to solve their legal problems in a variety of ways, through legal aid and legal support.

We are committed to ensuring that individuals with mental health conditions have equal opportunity to access legally aided advice and representation as the wider population. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) Contracts ensure providers comply with their obligations under the Equality Act 2010, including prohibiting firms from declining to take a case because of any additional expense arising from the need to make reasonable adjustments. The Government recognises the vital work of legal aid mental health providers in supporting people with a legal issue relating to their mental health condition, and we are taking steps to support the civil legal aid sector through investment and digital transformation.

The Government is also funding legal support services to support access to justice for vulnerable people with social welfare problems, through nearly £20 million of multi-year funding for 58 frontline organisations that directly support people to access legal advice. Our legal support strategy also involves working across government to promote the co-location of social welfare advice services to make links between health and justice in a range of settings, including mental health settings. This will help scale effective models, such as health justice partnerships, and ensure that vulnerable groups can access holistic support as early as possible.

On representation more broadly for people with mental health conditions, the regulation of legal professionals in England and Wales operates independently of Government. Under the Legal Services Act 2007, responsibility for regulating solicitors rests with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), while the Legal Services Board provides independent oversight of the approved regulators.

Solicitors, like all service providers, are subject to duties under the Equality Act 2010, including the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled clients. In addition, the SRA requires solicitors to provide services in a way that meets clients' needs and to take appropriate account of vulnerability.