Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what consultations his Department (a) sought and (b) held with bodies on its review of the means testing element of legal aid at inquests in its review of legal aid for inquests report, published in February 2019.

We think the time is now right to look at the means test and uprating in more detail. As part of the publication of the Legal Support Action Plan on 7 February, the Government has announced a review of the legal aid means testing thresholds and their interaction with the wider eligibility criteria. We are bringing together data and evidence from across government to ensure that the process is as thorough and consistent as possible. Following our consideration, we will bring forward any changes as soon as is practical.

In order to inform our review of inquests, we undertook a broad evidence-gathering exercise, which included surveys of senior coroners, consultative group discussions with the legal profession, third sector organisations and bereaved families, and a six-week call for evidence exercise which was held over summer 2018. We examined all the evidence closely and our findings are reflected in the final report.

We would like to explore further options for the funding of legal support at inquests where the state has state-funded representation. To do this we will work closely with other Government Departments.