The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has lamented the lack of data-gathering and ‘curiosity’ on the part of ministry officials
Its report ‘Value for money from legal aid’, published last week, noted that while the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is aware of cases where people did not take legal advice as a result of long waits for duty solicitors at police stations, it has no data on how frequently people request a duty solicitor but do not get one.
Similarly, PAC’s report expresses concern at the MoJ’s lack of understanding of the impact of legal aid deserts on vulnerable groups—for example, those with a disability or with English as a second language.
Overall, it found the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 reduced direct spending on legal aid, with a £728m (28%) real-terms reduction in 2022–23 compared with 2012–13. However, it noted the government has ‘failed to improve their understanding of where costs may have shifted to other areas of the justice system or wider government’. For example, MoJ and HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) acknowledges that removing early legal advice for immigration and family issues may create additional costs elsewhere, but has not tried to identify or address these.
The report states: ‘HMCTS’s failure to improve the data it collects on the impacts of increasing numbers of people representing themselves (litigants-in-person) on courts, which have been under immense pressure in recent years, is particularly disappointing.’
PAC highlighted the proportion of people eligible for legal aid is reducing each year as ministers dither over reviews of the threshold. It also expressed concern about the future sustainability of the legal aid market, and urged the MoJ to set out how it plans to work with providers to keep legal aid profitable and what mechanisms it will put in place to routinely review sustainability.
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