Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of legal aid for irregular migrants in 2024.

Expenditure data for irregular migrants across all legal aid schemes is not held centrally.

Where proceedings are before a court or tribunal in England or Wales, legal aid is available to individuals who qualify for services irrespective of their immigration status.

The Legal Aid Agency publishes information about case volumes and expenditure data for the immigration and asylum category as part of its official statistics. Please see tables 5.2-5.3 for volume an expenditure data for Legal Help and Controlled Legal Representation – this covers advice and representation before the Immigration Tribunal. Tables 6.1-6.10 set out volume and expenditure date for Civil Representation – this covers representation before the county courts and higher courts including High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.