Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what support (a) under the Litigants in Person Support Strategy and (b) through the additional grant funding announced in February 2019 will be offered to (i) victims of domestic abuse and (ii) other people from the North West Durham constituency participating in family court proceedings in (A) Durham and (B) Darlington.

Since 2014-15, MoJ has invested almost £6.5 million of funding to support litigants in person in the civil and family courts through the Litigants in Person Support Strategy. The strategy works with a range of partners across England and Wales in the advice, voluntary and pro bono sectors to provide practical support for litigants in person. This includes online and self-help resources, as well as access to free or affordable legal advice and representation, where possible. For example, the Support Strategy continues to work with with the North East Law Centre in Newcastle Upon-Tyne to extend its reach and receive referrals from across the region, including from non-specialist services such as GP surgeries, and increase awareness of the expert advice available to litigants in person in the area.

In February 2019, we published the Legal Support Action Plan which included a commitment to enhancing support for litigants in person. This will be achieved by increasing the funding provided to the Litigants in Person Support Strategy to £3m a year, for the next two years. We are particularly interested in focusing this additional investment on broadening the evidence base on how the services we are delivering to litigants in person can be made even more effective.