Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
59th Report - Ministry of Justice follow-up: Autumn 2025
Published 7 Jan 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Ministry of Justice follow-up: Autumn 2025 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We are not satisfied that MoJ and the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) are doing enough to ensure that people eligible for legal aid can access it, particularly those who are digitally excluded. This Committee previously raised concerns that LAA’s reliance on remote advice in areas of the country which lack face-to-face provision of legal aid risks disproportionately penalising those who are digitally excluded (estimated to be around 24% of the population), and who are often most in need of legal assistance. For example, individuals with disabilities or those living in poverty. Significant gaps in face-to-face legal provision still exist in areas of the country, in particular for housing and debt advice. LAA has begun to explore what it can do to remove barriers to providers meeting with clients face-to-face. For example, it is looking at how it could adjust the terms of its contracts to make this easier. However, we were disappointed that MoJ and LAA could not demonstrate an improved understanding of whether those who are digitally excluded are able to access help. recommendation In its Treasury Minute response, the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Agency should set out: • outside of exploring changes to contracts, how it plans to better monitor whether digitally excluded individuals can access legal aid. • what it is doing to close gaps in provision in areas where legal aid deserts still exist. 4
From: Public Accounts Committee, 59th Report - Ministry of Justice follow-up: Autumn 2025 (HC 1240), 7 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 April 2026 (deadline 7 March 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the recommendations in the response, reporting some as implemented and giving target dates for others.
- On Dartmoor, HMPPS has reviewed its handling of the lease negotiations and identified areas of learning. MoJ and HMPPS will write to the Committee "once the proposed approach to remediating Dartmoor has been decided", with a target date of June 2026.
- On access to legal aid for the digitally excluded, an Ipsos civil demand feasibility study will report by the end of March 2026. The department will report back to the Committee on progress in October 2026.
- On market sustainability, the department will "explore options to routinely monitor the profitability of legal aid firms" and update the Committee in October 2026. Any future policy decisions will be "in the context of the department's spending review settlement".
- On the cyberattack, MoJ and LAA say lessons have already been shared across government. MoJ states that it "has allocated funding to the transformation of LAA systems over the 2026-2029 period".