Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what funding his Department has allocated to ensure access to free legal support for people on low incomes in (a) Liverpool West Derby constituency and (b) the UK.

The Lord Chancellor has a duty to ensure that legal aid is made available in accordance with the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (2012) and last year the Government spent £1.7bn on legal aid.

Legal aid can help meet the costs of legal advice, family mediation and representation in a court or tribunal. Legal Aid is not allocated by constituency but is available for cases where the relevant criteria, such as the financial eligibility of the applicant and/or the degree of legal merit in their case, is met, where applicable. Legal aid may not always be ‘free’, for instance where contributions are required towards the overall subsidised costs depending on the means of the applicant, or where this must be paid back, such as upon conviction in criminal matters, or where assets are recovered in civil proceedings.

Alongside this, in February 2019 the Ministry of Justice published the Legal Support Action Plan which outlines how the Government aims to improve the breadth of support on offer to people when they experience legal problems. As part of this, a series of pilots will be launched to test early forms of intervention that stop people’s problems from escalating and becoming more complex. This includes an investment of up to £5m into a Legal Support Innovation Fund to explore the role technology can play in helping people identify and resolve their legal issues, and we are enhancing the support on offer to litigants in person by providing a further £3m of funding over the next two years, ensuring that those representing themselves in court understand the process and are better supported through it. Many of the measures announced in the action plan will help people, including those on low incomes, access free legal support.

Access to justice is a fundamental right and the Government is committed to ensuring that everyone can get the support they need to access the justice system across England and Wales.