Speeches

Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) children under 18 years of age and (b) young people aged 18 to 24(i) applied for legal aid through the Exceptional Case Funding Scheme (ECF) and (ii) were granted ECF in immigration cases in (A) 2013-14, (B) 2014-15 and (C) 2015-16.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The purpose of the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) scheme is to provide funding where it is legally needed. It does not provide a general power to fund cases which fall outside the scope of legal aid. Legal aid is a vital part of our justice system, but we cannot escape the continuing need to reduce the deficit. We still have a very generous system – last year we spent £1.6bn on legal aid, around a quarter of the department’s expenditure. Every ECF application is carefully considered by the Legal Aid Agency on an individual basis.

Applications to the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, by age of applicant, April 2013 to December 2015

FY application received

Under 18

18-24

Unknown

Apr 2013 – Mar 2014

55

86

6982

Apr 2014 – Mar 2015

27

116

67

Apr 2015 – Dec 20151

31

82

78


1
Statistics for Jan-Mar 2016 are exempt for future publication on 30 June 2016

2 Please note: Age data for Exceptional Case Funding were collected from October 2013 onwards, hence the greater proportion of unknowns in 2013-14 compared to the other years.

Applications to the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, which were granted3, by age of applicant, April 2013 to December 2015

FY application received

Under 18

18-24

Unknown

Apr 2013 – Mar 2014

1

4

132

Apr 2014 – Mar 2015

8

20

3

Apr 2015 – Dec 20151

12

40

23

1 Statistics for Jan-Mar 2016 are exempt for future publication on 30 June 2016

2 Please note: Age data for Exceptional Case Funding were collected from October 2013 onwards, hence the greater proportion of unknowns in 2013-14 compared to the other years.

3 Granted by 29 February 2016

Applications to the Exceptional Case Funding scheme for immigration cases, by age of applicant, April 2013 to December 2015

FY application received

Under 18

18-24

Unknown

Apr 2013 – Mar 2014

12

1332

Apr 2014 – Mar 2015

14

39

16

Apr 2015 – Dec 20151

11

33

25

1 Statistics for Jan-Mar 2016 are exempt for future publication on 30 June 2016

2 Please note: Age data for Exceptional Case Funding were collected from October 2013 onwards, hence the greater proportion of unknowns in 2013-14 compared to the other years.

Applications to the Exceptional Case Funding scheme for immigration cases, which were granted3, by age of applicant, April 2013 to December 2015

FY application received

Under 18

18-24

Unknown

Apr 2013 – Mar 2014

12

Apr 2014 – Mar 2015

4

8

1

Apr 2015 – Dec 20151

10

22

12

1 Statistics for Jan-Mar 2016 are exempt for future publication on 30 June 2016

2 Please note: Age data for Exceptional Case Funding were collected from October 2013 onwards, hence the greater proportion of unknowns in 2013-14 compared to the other years.

3 Granted by 29 February 2016