Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in 2017-18 applied for legal aid in order to (a) receive legal advice or (b) be represented in private law proceedings to secure a special guardianship order for a child; how many such applications resulted in legal aid being awarded; and how many such cases resulted in a special guardianship order being made.

The Legal Aid Agency maps legal aid provision by Procurement Area rather than by Local Authority. A list of solicitor firms who can provide legal aid in civil law, broken down by address, is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directory-of-legal-aid-providers.

Information on the number of applications made for legal aid in special guardianship proceedings and the associated outcomes could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.