Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 15
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
LAA did, however, acknowledge that there are still gaps in securing sufficient provision of legal aid across the country, particularly for housing and debt advice.30 MoJ explained that LAA is currently meeting its standard of ensuring there is at least one provider for the different types of legal aid (five providers for family cases) in each of its procurement areas, except for housing and debt where 19 areas lack face-to-face provision. It stated that LAA has worked to ensure that seven of these areas are supported through outreach arrangements with neighbouring areas, which it is working to replicate in the remaining areas.31 Written evidence we received from Public Law Project stressed that LAA’s capacity assessments are based on a relatively low level of coverage in each procurement area, not on how active or effective coverage is in each area.32 Understanding the wider costs of legal aid reforms
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".