Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will provide statistics detailing civil legal aid claims and grants by sector broken down by protected characteristics since January 2010.
Lord Faulks
Legal aid is a vital part of our justice system, but we cannot escape the continuing need to reduce the deficit. The Coalition Government reformed legal aid to reduce its cost and ensure the system commands the confidence of the public. As part of our public sector equality duty, the Legal Aid Agency has made it a contractual requirement that providers have an Equality and Diversity policy in place.
The number of civil claims by sector broken down for protected characteristics are shown in the tables below for the period 2010-11 to 2014-15. Figures for grants or applications at this level of detail are not held for the Legal Help and Controlled Legal Representation categories of civil legal aid and so figures for grants have not been provided.
The not for profit sector providers are shown based on the administrative system classification and all other providers are classified as solicitor firms. Where values for the protected characteristics are not held, unknown or the claimant has preferred not to state their answer, they are included within the unknown category.
The MoJ routinely publishes statistics on client characteristics for each area of legal aid on an annual basis on the government website.
