Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Value for Money from Legal Aid

Status: Closed Opened: 10 Jan 2024 Closed: 28 May 2024 19 recommendations 5 conclusions 1 report

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO), implemented in 2013, significantly reduced the scope of legal aid in England and Wales, which provides legal services for those who are eligible, largely those who cannot afford to pay. LASPO succeeded in helping reduce the scheme’s expenditure from approximately £2.9bn in 2012-13 to around …

Reports

1 report

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Thirty-Third Report - Value for Money from Legal Aid	HC 481	24 May 2024	24	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

1 item

6 Recommendation Thirty-Third Report - Value for Money f… Acknowledged

Improve timely response to legal aid market sustainability issues and implement fee reviews.

We are not convinced that the Ministry of Justice has put in place sufficient measures to ensure the future sustainability of the legal aid market. MoJ has been slow to initiate and complete its large-scale sustainability reviews of both criminal and civil legal aid. While its review of criminal legal …

Government response. The government agreed, but provided vague commitments on several points. It is 'considering how best' to work with providers on profitability. It noted CLAAB's advice on criminal legal aid is 'not binding' but assessed. For civil legal aid, it described …

HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session

Date	Witnesses
25 Mar 2024	Antonia Romeo · Ministry of Justice, Jane Harbottle · Legal Aid Agency, Jason Latham · HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Jerome Glass · Ministry of Justice	View ↗

Correspondence

8 letters

Date	Direction	Title
21 May 2024	—	Correspondence from Richard Price, Director General – Performance, Strategy and…
20 May 2024	—	Correspondence from Richard Orpin, Interim CEO, Legal Services Board, re Legal …
15 Apr 2024	—	Correspondence from Jane Harbottle, Chief Executive, Legal Aid Agency, re Publi…
15 Apr 2024	—	Correspondence from Jerome Glass, Director General, Policy, Ministry of Justice…
15 Apr 2024	—	Correspondence from Nick Goodwin, Chief Executive, HM Courts & Tribunals Servic…
15 Apr 2024	—	Correspondence from Jane Harbottle, Chief Executive, Legal Aid Agency, re Publi…
15 Apr 2024	—	Correspondence from Nick Goodwin, Chief Executive, HM Courts & Tribunals Servic…
18 Mar 2024	—	Correspondence from Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for…