Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of legal aid.

On 30 November 2022, we published our full response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review and consultation on policy proposals. We are boosting the system with upfront investment to address the most urgent concerns, including uplifts of 15% to most legal aid fee schemes.

We have also launched a review of civil legal aid to identify options which will inform our long-term strategy for improving the sustainability and effectiveness of the civil legal aid system.

In March 2022, we published a detailed consultation on legal aid means-testing arrangements. The consultation proposed a broad suite of changes to the civil and criminal legal aid means test, which will make civil legal aid available to 2 million more people, and to 3.5 million people in the magistrates’ court.