Asked by: Eleanor Smith (Labour - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the level of provision of exceptional case funding for immigration cases relating to children.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to the protection of vulnerable children, especially in cases where children lack adequate parental support. Changes to the availability of legal aid for civil legal cases were made in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) and as such a consideration of the effects of the changes will be made as part of our Post-Implementation Review of the Act, which will report later this year.
Support for children in non-asylum immigration cases remains available through the Exceptional Case Funding Scheme (ECF) in cases where failure to provide legal aid would breach their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights or EU law, subject to means and merits tests.
Asked by: Eleanor Smith (Labour - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans for the review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 to include an examination of the effect of that Act on non-asylum immigration cases involving unaccompanied and separated children.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to the protection of vulnerable children, especially in cases where children lack adequate parental support.
The Lord Chancellor has confirmed the start of the review into Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. The review will include an assessment of the changes to the scope of legal aid for immigration cases.