Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much legal aid has been allocated to Northern Ireland law firms (a) KRW Law and (b) Madden and Finucane in each of the last five years.

KRW Law were offered a legal aid contract which allowed them to represent families of the victims at the inquest into the Birmingham Pub Bombings. Our thoughts are with the families of those who died during this horrific attack.

Legal aid is available for inquests in exceptional cases, which is why we funded the families throughout this inquest.

While our review of legal aid showed that legal representation is not necessary for the vast majority of inquests, we are making a number of changes to ensure there is more support for bereaved families.

Payments by the Legal Aid Agency to KRW Law during the last five years are broken down as below. Note that legal aid costs are paid in arrears, therefore payments may be made in a different year to that in which services were provided:

No legal aid has been allocated to Madden and Finucane in any of the last five years.