Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid, published on 29 November 2021.

On 30 November 2022, we published our full response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR) and consultation on policy proposals. This followed our interim response, which was published on 20 July 2022.

Based on CLAIR’s emphasis on swift resolution of criminal matters, 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%.

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 also uplifted fees for defence advocates by 15%. In addition, we introduced new fees for advocates who undertake s.28 hearings (pre-recorded cross-examination of vulnerable witnesses) and allocated additional funding for special and wasted preparation (work done outside of the ordinary, in specified circumstances, or work done by an advocate but where they are unable to conduct the trial for good reason).

We anticipate that these investments will increase criminal legal aid spending by up to £141 million a year in a steady state, and take total criminal legal aid spend to £1.2 billion per year.

We also established the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board in October 2022, following Sir Christopher Bellamy’s CLAIR recommendation that an Advisory Board be created to take a wider view and encourage a more joined-up approach to criminal legal aid within the criminal justice system. It is chaired by former judge HH Deborah Taylor.