Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Government Legal Department.

Within an ever-evolving and challenging context – which has included continuing to support the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the negotiation of new international agreements, COP26, the Northern Ireland Protocol, the challenges around energy supply to name a few – GLD continues to provide first class legal services across Whitehall.

Despite these pressures, GLD have continued to meet all three of the key performance measures they have agreed with HMT, reflecting their continued commitment to high professional standards and providing an excellent service to clients. Last year:

• 96.2% of GLD’s clients rated their services “good” or “excellent” in GLD’s annual client satisfaction survey; and
• GLD’s litigators again successfully retained their Lexcel Accreditation – the Law Society Practice Mark – an annual achievement since 2006.
• GLD is on track to recover the full operating cost of chargeable services to their clients.

Moreover, GLD’s performed well against the eight challenging priorities set out in their Business Plan 2021-22.