Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40498, on domestic violence: legal aid scheme, which domestic violence support groups, legal representative bodies and colleagues across Government the Department is working with; and on what basis the decision was made to work with those organisations and not others.

We are working with a range of organisations, including Rights of Women, the Law Society, Resolution, and the Legal Aid Practitioners Group.

With the guidance of these organisations, and through their associated networks, we have sought to target those with direct experience of how the regulations operate in practice - for victims and practitioners – as we think this is the best way to inform how those regulations may be improved. We have also begun work with the Home Office, as the lead department on domestic violence policy, to better understand the wider context of domestic violence.