Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October to Question 84015 on Legal Aid Scheme: Ely and East Cambridgeshire, when the Legal Aid Agency last assessed the adequacy of legal aid provision in Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency; and if they will undertake a new assessment in that constituency.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) continually assesses supply across all procurement areas. The LAA’s network of regional contract managers located throughout England and Wales provide intelligence-led information based on contact with legal aid service providers. In addition, the LAA regularly reviews available supply to make sure there is adequate provision for legal aid, in all categories of law, and takes operational action where it can, to respond to market pressures that may arise.

For civil contracts the LAA commissions and monitors the supply of legal aid services across larger geographic areas called procurement areas, rather than by local authority or parliamentary constituency. These areas vary depending on the type of civil law.

Ely and East Cambridgeshire fall within several procurement areas, which cover all civil categories of law for which legal aid is available. All of these procurement areas exceed the minimum required number of legal aid providers. In addition to local providers, national services are also available to your constituents. These include early legal advice through the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, and telephone-based support for housing, debt, education, and discrimination issues via Civil Legal Advice.

Criminal legal aid contracts are commissioned nationally. The LAA monitors and take measures within its control to ensure there is sufficient coverage for local duty solicitor schemes, in this case the Cambridge and Ely scheme. These schemes are based on demand, so the number of solicitors may vary between areas.

As set out in the response to PQ 84015, the LAA is satisfied there is currently adequate provision of legal aid services in Ely and East Cambridgeshire.

Details about legal aid providers are published in the LAA’s official statistics (Tables 9.1–9.9). These figures help the LAA monitor the availability of services across different legal categories and regions in England and Wales.