Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of proceedings before the First-Tier Social Entitlement Chamber were attended by parties litigant in each of the last 10 years.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The term “litigant in person” (“party litigant” in Scotland) applies to appellants without a legal representative. In the First-tier Tribunal, Social Entitlement Chamber (SEC) any person may be permitted to act as a representative, including a friend or a relative.

The case management systems used in the tribunals of the SEC (Social Security and Child Support; Criminal Injuries Compensation; and Asylum Support) cannot provide a breakdown between different types of representative.