Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to increase legal aid fees.

We have confirmed we will be uplifting fees for housing and immigration legal aid, the first increase since 1996, and worth £20 million when implemented.

We have also recently consulted on funding of up to £92 million a year for criminal legal aid and prison solicitors to help address the ongoing challenges in the criminal justice system. This money is in addition to the £24 million uplift the Government introduced to the criminal duty solicitor scheme.

Following the cyber security incident, our focus has been on restoring Legal Aid Agency services, ensuring access to justice through business continuity, including delegating authority to providers and offering weekly average civil payments. These contingency measures have supported providers to continue to operate and support the public. However, we are committed to implementing the significant fee uplifts in civil and criminal legal aid as soon as operationally possible.