Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the access to legal aid for families in Newport West constituency.
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision of legal aid, in all categories of law, throughout England and Wales. The LAA moves quickly, where issues arise, to secure additional provision and to ensure continuity of legal aid services.
The Legal Aid Agency commissions and monitors legal aid services by ‘Procurement Area’ as opposed to by constituency. The LAA seeks to award a minimum of 1 contract for each civil category of law for each Procurement Area, save in family law where the LAA seeks to award 5 contracts per procurement area. The Procurement Area which includes Newport West currently exceeds both standards.