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1140287

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Disability
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the average waiting time for an appeal for universal credit by a tribunal for people with a disability in the most recent period for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	278907
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>Waiting times for appeals against decisions made about Universal Credit (UC) are published at:</p><p>www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics</p><p> </p><p>The specific information requested is not held: Her Majesty’s Courts &amp; Tribunals Service does not record whether UC appeals have been made by people with a disability.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/07/2019 16:20:25 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1140295

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Appeals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will introduce targets for the waiting time for a universal credit appeal case to be heard by a tribunal.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	278908
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>We do not have targets for waiting times. The listing of appeals, including consideration of whether a hearing should be expedited, is a judicial function.</p><p> </p><p>Nevertheless, MoJ are working to reduce waiting times for appeals by increasing judicial resource. This includes recruiting up to 250 judges across the First-tier Tribunal, 125 disability qualified members and up to 230 medical members. Once this is completed we expect more cases to be listed, improving the throughput in the Tribunal.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/07/2019 16:17:04 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138673

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of not-for-profit legal aid providers that have closed in each year for the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	276509
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <table><tbody><tr><td><p>The LAA does not hold data on Not For Profit (NfP) organisation closures, only whether they hold a contract to deliver legal aid services. Under the LAA’s contracting regime, an organisation may be contracted to deliver services from one or multiple offices. Contracts may be ended by either party; providers may choose to withdraw from the whole contract, an office or a category of law or the LAA may take action should a provider breach its contract obligations. All contracted providers make their own commercial decisions and withdrawal from a legal aid contract may not be as a result of a closure. For example, NfPs may withdraw from a legal aid contract but continue to operate reliant on other funding, or may choose to consolidate offices but continue to deliver larger volumes of work across a wider area. The table below shows the number of NfP providers (at office level) holding a legal aid contract in any given year. While NfP organisations play a role in helping people access justice, they are not the sole means. We have 1,439 organisations delivering legal aid contracts across the England and Wales – 1,356 of which are with legal firms rather than the not-for-profit sector which includes law centres. We spent £1.6 billion on legal aid last year and in addition to the Civil Legal Advice Telephone service, we are investing £5m in innovative technologies to help people access legal support wherever they are. <table><tbody><tr><td colspan="11"><p>Financial Year</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>2011/12</p></td><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>2018/19</p></td><td><p>2019 September</p></td><td><p>2019/20</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>596</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>495</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>456</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>395</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>397</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>320</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>311</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>295</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>285</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>233</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>213</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table></p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 17/07/2019 15:50:20 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138145

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme: Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of local authority areas that do not have a housing legal aid provider in England and Wales.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	275673
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The LAA commissions services on a ‘Procurement Area’ basis. Procurement Areas align to one or a number of combined local authority areas and have been developed based on various local factors.</p><p> </p><p>Individuals are not limited to accessing legal advice providers in the Procurement Area where they live and may access services from providers located in neighbouring local authorities, or at other contracted legal advice providers located locally.</p><p> </p><p>The LAA has recently tendered for new face-to-face housing contracts across the 134 housing and debt procurement areas across England and Wales. As of 30 June 2019, there is at least one provider offering housing and debt services in all but 4 procurement areas, and the LAA is considering how to secure provision in these areas and will set out next steps shortly.</p><p> </p><p>Legal advice is still available in these areas through the Civil Legal Advice telephone service and irrespective of a client’s location in England and Wales, legal advice for housing remains available through a telephone service as well.</p><p> </p><p>The following table shows the number of providers in each of the locations enquired about, and the number of procurement areas which fall within each.</p><p> </p><p>The Legal Aid Agency keeps availability of legal support under constant review and takes urgent action whenever it has concerns.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Geographical Location</p></td><td><p># of Procurement Areas</p></td><td><p># of Providers</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>London</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>235</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wales</p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p>35</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other</p></td><td><p>96</p></td><td><p>212</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>This government spent £1.6 billion on legal aid last year and in addition to the Civil Legal Advice Telephone service, we are investing £5m in innovative technologies to help people access legal support wherever they are.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 15/07/2019 16:06:15 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham