Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of legal aid services for residents of Royal Sutton Coldfield.

Legal aid is a vital part of the justice system and underpins our plans to build a justice system that works fairly for all parties.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) continuously assesses the available supply of legal aid services throughout England and Wales across all categories of law. Details about volumes of contracted legal aid providers are published in the LAA’s official statistics (Tables 9.1–9.9) and data visualisation tools (procurement area maps). These figures help the LAA monitor the availability of services. The LAA takes operational action, where it can, to respond to market pressures that may arise and works closely with the Ministry of Justice on policy solutions concerning the supply of legal aid.

For civil contracts, the LAA commissions legal aid services across larger geographic areas called procurement areas, rather than by local authority or parliamentary constituency. The relevant procurement area serving the Sutton Coldfield constituency varies depending on the type of civil law.

Constituents in Sutton Coldfield can access face to face services across all civil categories of law for which legal aid is available. All procurement areas serving Sutton Coldfield exceed the minimum required number of legal aid providers.

In addition to face-to-face services, constituents in Sutton Coldfield can access remote services provided via Civil Legal Advice (Housing, Debt, Discrimination and Education) and the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service where they are at risk of losing their home.

Criminal legal aid services are placed nationally although duty schemes operate locally. The LAA is satisfied that all police station and court slots are covered for each duty scheme in England and Wales, including those serving Sutton Coldfield. Provision under the duty schemes is demand led and so there may be variations in numbers across each local rota.

The LAA is satisfied there is adequate access to legal aid services in Sutton Coldfield.