Question to the Ministry of Justice:

What steps his Department is taking to ensure legal aid is accessible to people that need it.

Last year, the Legal Aid Agency spent around £1.7bn on legal aid for those who need it – this government is committed to maintaining access to justice. Wider than legal aid, we are enhancing the support on offer to litigants in person by providing a further £3m of funding and investing up to £5m in a Legal Support Innovation Fund.

In addition, we are making a number of changes to legal aid. This includes undertaking a comprehensive review of the means test, improving and simplifying the exceptional case funding scheme, making face-to-face advice more readily available in a number of civil matters, and undertaking an awareness campaign for legal aid and legal support.