Lord Wigley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wigley on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research they have undertaken into the number of legal practitioners who will still be able to provide criminal legal aid services in England and Wales in the light of the decision to abandon proposals to reduce significantly the number of duty solicitors in those countries.

Lord Keen of Elie

All organisations who bid for own client contracts in 2015 will have the opportunity to bid for criminal legal aid work when we invite applications for replacement contracts later in the year. As my colleague, Lord Faulks, told the House on 28 January, a process of natural consolidation is already taking place in the criminal legal aid market, following the reduction in crime and natural competition.