Asylum Seekers: Legal Aid

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Lords Chamber

Question

11:29

Asked by

[The Lord Bishop of Sheffield]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the availability and accessibility of legal aid for asylum seekers.

[The Lord Bishop of Sheffield]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare my interest as a patron of the ASSIST charity in Sheffield.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede) (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the right reverend Prelate for his Question. We are committed to improving the experience of all users and providers of civil legal aid. The Government are determined to improve and stabilise the civil legal aid sector, which was neglected for many years. Civil legal aid fees have not increased since 1996 and were cut by 10% by the previous Government. As an important first step towards this and having considered the evidence from the review of civil legal aid, we will consult on uplifting legal aid fees for immigration and asylum and for housing and debt this month, two sectors which we believe are particularly under pressure.

[The Lord Bishop of Sheffield]

I thank the Minister for that Answer. The Public Accounts Committee determined last year that there is a supply crisis in the immigration and asylum legal aid market. As a result, increasing numbers of asylum seekers are removed from the UK before being able to evidence their claim properly or mount a meaningful appeal. It cannot be right for justice to be sacrificed on the altar of cost saving. Given that in the year ending June 2024 48% of asylum appeals were successful, what support can the Government provide to those unable to lodge an appeal because they simply cannot find a legal aid representative to assist them?

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, we are working within the sector to try to build up the support for people able to provide support for those making potential appeals. We are working with and funding the Law Society to enable it to fund the accreditation of suitably qualified people to enable this work to be undertaken. We are increasing the base of lawyers and others who can take on this work.

[Lord Sahota (Lab)]

My Lords, what provisions are in place when an asylum seeker is refused their initial asylum claim and NASS, the National Asylum Support Service, records only their refusal decision and not that the asylum seeker has submitted their appeal, with their accommodation and subsistence allowance therefore not reinstated?

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for giving me notice of his question and I will write to him. I hear similar questions in my other private life, and I will ensure that a proper answer is provided to my noble friend’s question.

[Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames (LD)]

My Lords, most research suggests that about 60% of eligible asylum seekers cannot find a legal aid lawyer. The announced increase in legal aid rates should help but will not deal with the advice deserts across the country. Given the language difficulties and the complexity of these cases, online remote lawyers cannot cover the deficit. How will the Government encourage more solicitors to take on this work, and does the Minister agree that the review of civil legal aid has already demonstrated that urgently reducing the bureaucracy and complexity of legal aid contracting is at least part of the answer?

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for the question; I certainly agree with the second part of it. Regarding the first part, the answer is very similar to the one I gave to the right reverend Prelate. The Government are funding the Law Society to help build up the base of lawyers and other legal professionals who can provide the advice to which the noble Lord has referred and to get rid of the “advice deserts”. I take his point about people not always giving their advice face to face; nevertheless, there has been a big change in remote advice for people seeking to make applications which we think has been beneficial. Nevertheless, there is the underlying issue of getting more people to work within the sector.

[Lord Keen of Elie (Con)]

My Lords, we know that civil legal aid is now available in very limited circumstances and the disposable income threshold is little more than £3,000, so very few of our fellow citizens could ever qualify. An asylum seeker who has paid thousands of pounds to a people smuggler can reasonably argue upon his arrival at Dover that he has no disposable income and qualifies for legal aid, but the result is that we are now spending tens of millions of pounds on asylum cases from the Legal Aid Fund. Is there not a better and more efficient means of dealing with claims and the advice required by those seeking asylum in this country, including the suggestion of a government-supported and centralised legal representation unit for asylum cases, rather than this dispersed disposal of legal aid into what has been an advisory desert?

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I was not aware of the suggestion of a centralised legal aid representation facility. If that is still being actively considered, I will write and confirm that to the noble and learned Lord. Nevertheless, he makes a reasonable point about building up the resources to be able to process these cases effectively, efficiently, fairly and humanely.

One other factor is that Duncan Lewis, the well-renowned law firm, has written that it believes that the new rates, which are very likely to be agreed, will help it to do more work in this area.

[Baroness Deech (CB)]

My Lords, anyone who reads the newspapers can see the huge gulf between the Rolls-Royce justice system available to those with bottomless pockets and what is available to those who have no legal aid and no money. Justice is not done if it is not affordable. I have in mind family law, which has a claim as great as asylum seekers, where people are left at the most stressful moments in their lives with no legal aid. Will the Government commit to some evening out of legal aid across all cases so that every citizen can get the legal aid and advice that they need?

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I am very sympathetic to the question and the point that the noble Baroness raises in it. As she may know, my personal background was as a magistrate in the family law space, and I saw many hundreds of litigants in person when dealing with those cases. It is true that they very often were not adequately able to put their case forward. We are looking at various initiatives in that space, such as mediation vouchers and possibly early legal advice, and different approaches, but the fundamental point the noble Baroness makes is fair.