Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that single mothers receive adequate support and advice in the family courts division.

Access to justice is a fundamental right. We spent £1.6bn last year on legal aid for the most vulnerable – of which £545m was in family law.

Legal aid is also part of a bigger picture and so we are now making changes to enhance the breadth of legal support available for everyone in society.

The Legal Support Action Plan, published on 7 February, announced that we would be changing the legal aid eligibility criteria to provide non-means tested legal aid for parents, or those with parental responsibility, who wish to oppose applications for placement orders or adoption orders in public family law. In addition, we announced that we will doubling the department’s funding to the Litigants in Person Support Strategy to £3m for the next two years.