Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to support law centres that have been financially adversely affected by the covid-19 outbreak.

We recognise the valuable role that Law Centres, and the wider not-for-profit advice sector, play in local communities across the country, and we support them in this vital work.

We are aware that Law Centres may experience financial issues due to the Covid-19 outbreak and have been working at pace to consider options to support them and other not-for-profits who provide this important service.

I am therefore pleased to say that the Government is allocating £5.4 million in funding to the not for profit providers of specialist legal advice.

£3 million of this will be earmarked specifically for Law Centres.

This is in addition to the £370m of funding that the National Lottery Communities Fund is administering, which qualifying third sector organisations, including those within the advice sector, will be able to bid for directly.