Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of criminal legal aid firms that have ceased operations in each of the last 15 years.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of legal aid provision for immigration cases.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Legal aid is available for asylum cases, for immigration matters for victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, for separated migrant children and for immigration detention cases.
Once commenced, individuals who receive a removal notice under the Illegal Migration Act (IMA) will have access to merits and means free legal advice in relation to the removal notice.
We have taken action to increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases, by:
Setting fees for IMA work at 15% above the usual hourly rate;
Providing up to £1.4 million of funding in 2024 for accreditation and re-accreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work;
Allowing Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS) providers to give guidance remotely, at the discretion of providers and subject to their professional judgement and their obligations towards vulnerable persons; and
Introducing payment for travel time between Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) and DDAS surgeries.
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action within its operational powers to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.
The LAA regularly engages with provider representative groups, including on the provision of immigration and asylum services, via forums such as the Civil Contract Consultative Group.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Green Paper consultation is expected in July 2024.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for criminal defence solicitors.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In responding to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR), we boosted the system with upfront investment to address the most urgent concerns.
On 29 January, we published a consultation on proposed reforms to the Police Station Fee Scheme and the Youth Court, for which we propose an additional £16 million for police station work and £5.1 million for the Youth Court of funding per year. The consultation has now closed, and we are in the process of analysing the responses and considering the next steps. The government response will be published in due course.
We expect our reforms to criminal legal aid will increase investment in the solicitor profession by up to £85 million every year, including a 30% increase in funding for solicitors’ work in police stations and a 20% increase for their work in magistrates’ courts, once we introduce the additional £21 million per year allocated to these areas (subject to the consultation).
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what advice her Department provides to NHS England on the categorisation of people’s disabilities as outlined in the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is for individual National Health Service organisations, including NHS trusts and integrated care boards, to comply with the Equality Act 2010, guidance on which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance
The act defines disability as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Further information on the definition of disability according to the act can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010
No assessment has been made of the potential merits of issuing guidance to NHS England on the categorisation of disability. NHS England has issued guidance for NHS commissioners on equality and health inequalities legal duties. It has also issued guidance with respect to the Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag (the Flag). Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a legal duty to make changes in their approach or provision, to ensure that services are as accessible to disabled people as they are for everybody else. These changes are called reasonable adjustments. The Flag was developed in the NHS Spine to enable health and care workers to record, share, and view details of reasonable adjustments across the NHS, wherever the person is treated. It is now accessible on the National Care Records Service, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-care-records-service
The Flag is designed to provide staff with information on their duties under the Equality Act 2010. It lists existing adjustments defined by clinical codes, such as communication needs defined using the Accessible Information Standard clinical codes, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/
It also provides the opportunity to create highly individualised bespoke adjustments for patients. The service holds records for all patients in England who have been flagged as needing reasonable adjustments. A record is created for a patient when a health or social care worker first records the patient's reasonable adjustments.
The Flag provides basic context about a patient, key adjustments, and the details related to this and further information to aid health and care workers. This legal duty is anticipatory, which means a service should know about a person’s need for adjustments when they are referred or present for care. For this to happen, and for optimum care to be delivered, adjustments need to be recorded and shared across the NHS. The Flag can also record if a patient meets the Equality Act definition of disability, which is an impairment with substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day to day activity. It can also optionally contain details of the disability or long term condition that is the source of the patient’s impairment, in line with the Equality Act 2010 guidance. The impairment type list in the guidance shows the impairment types that can be recorded.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department issues to NHS England regarding the use of reasonable adjustment digital flags.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is for individual National Health Service organisations, including NHS trusts and integrated care boards, to comply with the Equality Act 2010, guidance on which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance
The act defines disability as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Further information on the definition of disability according to the act can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010
No assessment has been made of the potential merits of issuing guidance to NHS England on the categorisation of disability. NHS England has issued guidance for NHS commissioners on equality and health inequalities legal duties. It has also issued guidance with respect to the Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag (the Flag). Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a legal duty to make changes in their approach or provision, to ensure that services are as accessible to disabled people as they are for everybody else. These changes are called reasonable adjustments. The Flag was developed in the NHS Spine to enable health and care workers to record, share, and view details of reasonable adjustments across the NHS, wherever the person is treated. It is now accessible on the National Care Records Service, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-care-records-service
The Flag is designed to provide staff with information on their duties under the Equality Act 2010. It lists existing adjustments defined by clinical codes, such as communication needs defined using the Accessible Information Standard clinical codes, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/
It also provides the opportunity to create highly individualised bespoke adjustments for patients. The service holds records for all patients in England who have been flagged as needing reasonable adjustments. A record is created for a patient when a health or social care worker first records the patient's reasonable adjustments.
The Flag provides basic context about a patient, key adjustments, and the details related to this and further information to aid health and care workers. This legal duty is anticipatory, which means a service should know about a person’s need for adjustments when they are referred or present for care. For this to happen, and for optimum care to be delivered, adjustments need to be recorded and shared across the NHS. The Flag can also record if a patient meets the Equality Act definition of disability, which is an impairment with substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day to day activity. It can also optionally contain details of the disability or long term condition that is the source of the patient’s impairment, in line with the Equality Act 2010 guidance. The impairment type list in the guidance shows the impairment types that can be recorded.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of issuing guidance to NHS England on the categorisation of disabilities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is for individual National Health Service organisations, including NHS trusts and integrated care boards, to comply with the Equality Act 2010, guidance on which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance
The act defines disability as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Further information on the definition of disability according to the act can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010
No assessment has been made of the potential merits of issuing guidance to NHS England on the categorisation of disability. NHS England has issued guidance for NHS commissioners on equality and health inequalities legal duties. It has also issued guidance with respect to the Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag (the Flag). Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a legal duty to make changes in their approach or provision, to ensure that services are as accessible to disabled people as they are for everybody else. These changes are called reasonable adjustments. The Flag was developed in the NHS Spine to enable health and care workers to record, share, and view details of reasonable adjustments across the NHS, wherever the person is treated. It is now accessible on the National Care Records Service, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-care-records-service
The Flag is designed to provide staff with information on their duties under the Equality Act 2010. It lists existing adjustments defined by clinical codes, such as communication needs defined using the Accessible Information Standard clinical codes, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/
It also provides the opportunity to create highly individualised bespoke adjustments for patients. The service holds records for all patients in England who have been flagged as needing reasonable adjustments. A record is created for a patient when a health or social care worker first records the patient's reasonable adjustments.
The Flag provides basic context about a patient, key adjustments, and the details related to this and further information to aid health and care workers. This legal duty is anticipatory, which means a service should know about a person’s need for adjustments when they are referred or present for care. For this to happen, and for optimum care to be delivered, adjustments need to be recorded and shared across the NHS. The Flag can also record if a patient meets the Equality Act definition of disability, which is an impairment with substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day to day activity. It can also optionally contain details of the disability or long term condition that is the source of the patient’s impairment, in line with the Equality Act 2010 guidance. The impairment type list in the guidance shows the impairment types that can be recorded.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that there is adequate information available for the public to understand if they meet the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is for individual National Health Service organisations, including NHS trusts and integrated care boards, to comply with the Equality Act 2010, guidance on which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance
The act defines disability as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Further information on the definition of disability according to the act can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010
No assessment has been made of the potential merits of issuing guidance to NHS England on the categorisation of disability. NHS England has issued guidance for NHS commissioners on equality and health inequalities legal duties. It has also issued guidance with respect to the Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag (the Flag). Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a legal duty to make changes in their approach or provision, to ensure that services are as accessible to disabled people as they are for everybody else. These changes are called reasonable adjustments. The Flag was developed in the NHS Spine to enable health and care workers to record, share, and view details of reasonable adjustments across the NHS, wherever the person is treated. It is now accessible on the National Care Records Service, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-care-records-service
The Flag is designed to provide staff with information on their duties under the Equality Act 2010. It lists existing adjustments defined by clinical codes, such as communication needs defined using the Accessible Information Standard clinical codes, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/
It also provides the opportunity to create highly individualised bespoke adjustments for patients. The service holds records for all patients in England who have been flagged as needing reasonable adjustments. A record is created for a patient when a health or social care worker first records the patient's reasonable adjustments.
The Flag provides basic context about a patient, key adjustments, and the details related to this and further information to aid health and care workers. This legal duty is anticipatory, which means a service should know about a person’s need for adjustments when they are referred or present for care. For this to happen, and for optimum care to be delivered, adjustments need to be recorded and shared across the NHS. The Flag can also record if a patient meets the Equality Act definition of disability, which is an impairment with substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day to day activity. It can also optionally contain details of the disability or long term condition that is the source of the patient’s impairment, in line with the Equality Act 2010 guidance. The impairment type list in the guidance shows the impairment types that can be recorded.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department publishes information to assist people in establishing whether they meet the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is for individual National Health Service organisations, including NHS trusts and integrated care boards, to comply with the Equality Act 2010, guidance on which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance
The act defines disability as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Further information on the definition of disability according to the act can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010
No assessment has been made of the potential merits of issuing guidance to NHS England on the categorisation of disability. NHS England has issued guidance for NHS commissioners on equality and health inequalities legal duties. It has also issued guidance with respect to the Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag (the Flag). Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a legal duty to make changes in their approach or provision, to ensure that services are as accessible to disabled people as they are for everybody else. These changes are called reasonable adjustments. The Flag was developed in the NHS Spine to enable health and care workers to record, share, and view details of reasonable adjustments across the NHS, wherever the person is treated. It is now accessible on the National Care Records Service, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-care-records-service
The Flag is designed to provide staff with information on their duties under the Equality Act 2010. It lists existing adjustments defined by clinical codes, such as communication needs defined using the Accessible Information Standard clinical codes, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/
It also provides the opportunity to create highly individualised bespoke adjustments for patients. The service holds records for all patients in England who have been flagged as needing reasonable adjustments. A record is created for a patient when a health or social care worker first records the patient's reasonable adjustments.
The Flag provides basic context about a patient, key adjustments, and the details related to this and further information to aid health and care workers. This legal duty is anticipatory, which means a service should know about a person’s need for adjustments when they are referred or present for care. For this to happen, and for optimum care to be delivered, adjustments need to be recorded and shared across the NHS. The Flag can also record if a patient meets the Equality Act definition of disability, which is an impairment with substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day to day activity. It can also optionally contain details of the disability or long term condition that is the source of the patient’s impairment, in line with the Equality Act 2010 guidance. The impairment type list in the guidance shows the impairment types that can be recorded.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS reasonable adjustment digital flag indicates that the NHS accept that the individual has a disability.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is for individual National Health Service organisations, including NHS trusts and integrated care boards, to comply with the Equality Act 2010, guidance on which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance
The act defines disability as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Further information on the definition of disability according to the act can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010
No assessment has been made of the potential merits of issuing guidance to NHS England on the categorisation of disability. NHS England has issued guidance for NHS commissioners on equality and health inequalities legal duties. It has also issued guidance with respect to the Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag (the Flag). Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a legal duty to make changes in their approach or provision, to ensure that services are as accessible to disabled people as they are for everybody else. These changes are called reasonable adjustments. The Flag was developed in the NHS Spine to enable health and care workers to record, share, and view details of reasonable adjustments across the NHS, wherever the person is treated. It is now accessible on the National Care Records Service, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-care-records-service
The Flag is designed to provide staff with information on their duties under the Equality Act 2010. It lists existing adjustments defined by clinical codes, such as communication needs defined using the Accessible Information Standard clinical codes, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/accessible-information-standard-implementation-guidance/
It also provides the opportunity to create highly individualised bespoke adjustments for patients. The service holds records for all patients in England who have been flagged as needing reasonable adjustments. A record is created for a patient when a health or social care worker first records the patient's reasonable adjustments.
The Flag provides basic context about a patient, key adjustments, and the details related to this and further information to aid health and care workers. This legal duty is anticipatory, which means a service should know about a person’s need for adjustments when they are referred or present for care. For this to happen, and for optimum care to be delivered, adjustments need to be recorded and shared across the NHS. The Flag can also record if a patient meets the Equality Act definition of disability, which is an impairment with substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day to day activity. It can also optionally contain details of the disability or long term condition that is the source of the patient’s impairment, in line with the Equality Act 2010 guidance. The impairment type list in the guidance shows the impairment types that can be recorded.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of men in prison have access to legal advice on the issue of parental rights and responsibilities.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Prisoners are entitled to civil legal aid if their legal matter is in scope, and they pass both a merits and a means test. The merits test considers the case’s likelihood of success and benefit to the client.
Legal aid is available in certain family matters, such as public family law cases which fall under the Children Act 1989. These types of cases include proceedings relating to whether a child should be taken into care or who should have parental responsibility.
In private family proceedings, legal aid is available for domestic abuse victims and where the child is at risk of abuse, subject to providing the required evidence and meeting the means and merits tests.
However, the National Security Act 2023 introduced a restriction on access to civil legal aid for convicted terrorists, which narrowed the range of circumstances in which individuals convicted of specified terrorism offences can receive civil legal aid services, though these provisions have not yet commenced.
It is not possible to estimate how many prisoners have a family law-related issue that is in scope of legal aid, and/or are eligible for legally-aided advice, as doing so would require each prisoner undertaking a means test and merits test of their case, as well as an examination of their issue to understand whether it is in scope.
Prison staff are required to assist prisoners who wish to access legal advice by providing lists of legal advisers, supplying appropriate forms, and assisting prisoners to complete them where requested due to language or literacy difficulties.