Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 156 of the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid published on 29 November 2021, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost to his Department of increasing legal aid for criminal defence solicitors by 15% above 2021 spend.

In responding to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR), we increased fees for solicitors by 15% in the police station and magistrates’ court, and uplifted the basic elements of the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS) by 15%. We chose not to uplift the pages of prosecution evidence and trial length elements of the LGFS, because we were considering reforms aimed at removing any perverse incentives.

An additional £21.1 million has been allocated towards reform of the police station fee scheme and the Youth Court fees, subject to a consultation which is ongoing. If allocated, this will result in an overall increase of 11% for solicitors once these reforms are in place. We expect these reforms will increase investment in the solicitor profession by £85 million every year.

In considering our response, we made estimates of the costs of these changes, and alternative options. Based on the forecasted case volumes for 2024/25, as estimated at the time of CLAIR, we assessed it would cost an additional up to £27 million per year in steady state to deliver the recommended 15% increase to criminal solicitors.