Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to allocate funding from the public purse for legal representation in the Court of Appeal to families who have been refused legal aid.

Legal aid continues to be available for the highest priority cases—for example, when an individual’s life or liberty is at stake, when someone faces the loss of their home, in domestic violence cases, or when children may be taken into care – subject to an applicant passing the test of means and merits. This includes all eligible cases that are taken to the Court of Appeal.

All individual case funding decisions are taken by the Legal Aid Agency. Ministers are prevented by law from intervening in this process. It is important that these decisions are, and are seen to be, free from political and Government influence.