Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for (a) legal aid and (b) criminal courts.

This Government inherited a justice system under enormous strain and a legal aid system facing significant challenges, but we have already started to rebuild the system. On criminal legal aid, in November 2024 we announced our response to the Crime Lower consultation, confirming an uplift to the lowest police station fees, introducing a new Youth Court fee scheme, and paying for travel time in certain circumstances. Together, these changes amount to a £24 million investment for criminal legal aid providers.

In addition, in December 2024, we announced that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year to help address the ongoing challenges in the criminal justice system, subject to consultation. This is a significant investment to reflect the valuable and tough work that is undertaken by those who work in the criminal justice system, helping them to make sure justice is served and that victims get the resolution they need.  Alongside consulting on specific solicitor fee uplifts, we are committed to continuing to work with the criminal legal aid profession, including the Bar, on further opportunities for reform this Parliament and to support the overall sustainability, diversity, and efficiency of the system.

On civil legal aid, the Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and, having considered the evidence collected, we acknowledge that the sector is facing a number of challenges. We are committed to improving the experience of users and providers and, as an important first step towards this, we intend to consult on uplifts to housing and debt and immigration legal aid fees this month which would inject an additional £20 million into the sector each year once fully implemented. We will continue to consider the fees paid in other categories of civil legal aid, and the wider themes from the Review, in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the civil legal aid sector.