Recommendation 14

We asked MoJ and LAA for an update on what they are doing to ensure that different groups can access legal aid, particularly those for whom remote advice may not be suitable. LAA explained that since the previous Committee’s evidence session, it had been looking at how to empower providers to use their judgement on the best way to deliver advice to individuals. It stated that it has also been examining whether its contract provisions create barriers to this, and told us that it had agreed to pay travel costs for providers to travel to clients where there were gaps in the provision of criminal legal aid.29