Legal Aid Scheme: Finance
(asked on 27th June 2019) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of re-allocating the funding for legal aid for immigration cases to domestic family law mediation cases.
Mediation for family law cases is already available under Part I of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).
The department recently conducted an extensive review of LASPO and has announced several changes as part of the Legal Support Action Plan. These included expanding the scope of legal aid in family law to cover representation for special guardianship orders and placement orders.
Data is not held on successful cases, but the Legal Aid Agency does hold data on cases that have started (and are funded by legal aid). These statistics are included below for both family law mediation and immigration cases for the last three years:
Legal aid in cases involving family law mediation |
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Financial Year | Family Mediation | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2016-17 | 7,611 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2017-18 | 6,302 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2018-19 | 6,515 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: ‘Proportion started’ data is not held for family mediation matters, as the application process and decision on whether to grant funding is devolved to the solicitor in question (the provider). |
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Legal aid in cases involving Immigration |
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Legal help | Civil representation | |||||||||||||||||||||
Financial Year | Grants | Applications | Grants | Proportion granted |
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2016-17 | 29,111 | 1,904 | 1,404 | 74% |
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2017-18 | 26,609 | 1,596 | 1,203 | 75% |
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2018-19 | 28,821 | 1,535 | 1,155 | 75% |
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Legal help is assistance short of representation. Note: ‘Proportion granted’ data is not held for Legal Help matters, as the application process and decision on whether to grant funding is devolved to the solicitor in question (the provider). |
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