Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 23
23
Accepted
Ministry of Justice lacks routine financial data for proactive legal aid provider sustainability assessments.
Recommendation
MoJ told us that the volume of information it has needed to collect from providers, including surveys on profitability, is the main reason that the reviews have taken so long to complete.63 While MoJ and LAA have collected information on the profitability of providers through these reviews, they do not have routine access to financial data to allow them to assess sustainability issues before they arise.64
Government Response Summary
The MoJ acknowledges the need to monitor the profitability of legal aid work more regularly and is considering how best to do so, including through collaborative groups and the CLAAB, aiming for implementation by Winter 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6. PAC conclusion: 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. 6. PAC Recommendation: The Ministry of Justice should set out in its Treasury Minute response how it plans to improve its ability to respond to emerging sustainability issues in a timely manner. This should include: • how it plans to work with providers to keep the profitability of legal aid work in view; • how it plans to implement the recommendations from the Criminal Legal Aid Board; and • what mechanisms it will put in place to review the sustainability of civil legal aid more routinely once its review is complete in July 2024. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Winter 2024 6.2 The MoJ has undertaken detailed work to understand the profitability of legal aid work, but acknowledges the recommendation to monitor it more regularly, and is considering how best to do this alongside providers. As part of the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR), a detailed financial survey was conducted. Following CLAIR, the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board (CLAAB) was established. CLAAB is independently chaired and attended by the main practitioner representative groups. Previous meetings have included discussion of criminal legal aid data to give an outline of the current market position. CLAAB provides valuable advice to the Lord Chancellor on the operation and structure of criminal legal aid fee schemes and assesses how these schemes should change and modernise. However, CLAAB is independent of MoJ and the Lord Chancellor and its recommendations are not binding, but assessed alongside other considerations. 6.3 The Review of Civil Legal Aid’s (RoCLA) evidence-gathering phase sought to collect profitability information to support policy development. MoJ collaborated with The Law Society to receive data from their quantitative research on the profitability of housing and family providers. MoJ also conducted a survey of civil legal aid providers, in which responders reported whether they are loss-making, breaking even, or profit-making, and of those who are profit-making, responders reported approximate profit margins. This survey received