Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the financial effect on the criminal legal aid sector of the time taken to implement recommendations of Sir Christopher Bellamy’s Independent review of criminal legal aid.

My predecessor, James Cartlidge MP, met representatives from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) in May and I met them in July. These meetings gave us the chance to discuss the positive changes proposed by CLAIR and the benefits of engaging with government constructively to ensure the sustainability of the sector. Senior officials continue to meet the chair of the CBA on a regular basis to discuss issues of mutual concern.

On 30 June, the Government announced via a Written Ministerial Statement that it would introduce secondary legislation to increase criminal legal aid fees. On 20 July, the Government laid a statutory instrument to implement a 15% uplift to most fee schemes. This statutory instrument will come into force for new representation orders that begin from 30 September 2022 onwards. Criminal legal aid practitioners will start to receive the pay increase from October 2022 onwards for their work on these cases.

Whilst we recognise the importance of remuneration in delivering long term sustainability of the market, Sir Christopher’s review was not just about providers’ remuneration, but also about the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System for all who use it. That is why alongside greater investment in criminal legal aid fees, we have consulted on a range of non-financial measures to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system.

Sir Christopher Bellamy undertook a financial assessment and recommended that funding for criminal legal aid should be increased overall for both solicitors and barristers as soon as possible to an annual level, in a steady state, of at least 15% above present levels. On 15 March, we published our interim response to Sir Christopher Bellamy’s report together with a consultation on related policy proposals. This was followed by a 12-week consultation period, and then a further 12 weeks to deliver requisite operational and legal changes. The next phase will involve consideration of the options for longer term reform we set out in the consultation, with a full response being published in the autumn. Notwithstanding the time constraints, we have worked as quickly as possible to deliver the funding increase, with the new fees due to come into force on 30 September. There is provision for interim and hardship payments to be made to criminal barristers and solicitors in certain circumstances, which are set out in Regulations and administered by the Legal Aid Agency.