Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent and impact of the number of defendants in criminal cases appearing without representation as revealed in the report by Transform Justice Justice Denied? The experience of unrepresented defendants in the criminal courts.

Lord Faulks

Data on litigants in person in Magistrates’ Courts is not centrally recorded. There has been no change in the scope or eligibility for legal aid in the magistrates’ courts since means testing was introduced in 2006.

Legal aid is available, where necessary, for both magistrates’ and Crown Court cases, subject to defendants being means tested.