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1123736

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2019
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of legal aid fees for housing cases not being increased for 20 years on the number of solicitors' firms providing advice and representation; for what reason they has been no increase in such fees; whether they intend to increase those fees; and if not, why not.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL15374
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/05/2019 answer text <p>In February 2019 the Post Implementation Review (PIR) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) was published. This included an evidence based assessment of the impact of changes to civil fees made as part of The Legal Aid Reform Programme.</p><p> </p><p>The PIR found that for the vast majority of England and Wales there is sufficient coverage of legal provision. This is regularly monitored by the LAA and action is taken where gaps in services are identified or where demand is greater than the available supply.</p><p> </p><p>It is also worth noting that wherever you are in England and Wales, legal advice for housing remains available through the telephone gateway.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 14/05/2019 15:41:17 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1105655

	registered interest
	date	27/03/2019
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability of legal aid and advice in housing law cases; and what is the geographical distribution of the providers of such services in (1) London, (2) the rest of England, and (3) Wales.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL14847
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/04/2019 answer text <p>Legal aid for housing advice is available to help people with a range of housing problems, subject to statutory means and merits tests. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country, and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear.</p><p> </p><p>As of 1 March there is at least one provider offering housing and debt services in all but 4 procurement areas, representing over 97% coverage across England and Wales. The Legal Aid Agency has since undertaken a further tender to secure provision in the remaining areas. Irrespective of 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 operating in each of the locations enquired about, and the number of procurement areas which fall within each. The LAA monitors access to legal aid-funded services by geographic location using ‘Procurement Areas’. These are boundaries defined by the LAA according to the respective categories of law they cover.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Geographical location</strong></p></td><td><p><strong># of Procurement Areas</strong></p></td><td><p><strong># of Providers</strong></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> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 09/04/2019 15:17:15 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1077048

	registered interest
	date	25/02/2019
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of people's access to housing lawyers.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL13970
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2019 answer text <p>This information is published by the Ministry of Justice, and can be accessed at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics. Statistics are released on a quarterly basis. The expenditure on housing matters for advice and assistance under the Legal Help scheme is located in the ‘Main Tables’ document, at table 5.3. Expenditure on housing matters for representation at court is located in table 6.5. Please note that costs in cases where legal aid was awarded, but which were recovered from the other side, are published separately at table 6.7.</p><p> </p><p>Legal aid for housing advice is available to help people with a range of housing problems, subject to statutory means and merits tests. The Legal Aid Agency frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country, and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear. As of 1 March there is at least one provider offering housing and debt services in all but 4 procurement areas, representing over 97% coverage across England and Wales. The Legal Aid Agency has opened a further tender to secure provision in the remaining areas. Irrespective of location in England and Wales, legal advice for housing remains available through a telephone service as well.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie grouped question UIN HL13969 question first answered 11/03/2019 17:45:30 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1077047

	registered interest
	date	25/02/2019
	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	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how much legal aid they have provided to housing lawyers in (1) 2012, (2) 2013, (3) 2014, (4) 2015, (5) 2016, (6) 2017, and (7) 2018.
	tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
	uin	HL13969
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2019 answer text <p>This information is published by the Ministry of Justice, and can be accessed at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics. Statistics are released on a quarterly basis. The expenditure on housing matters for advice and assistance under the Legal Help scheme is located in the ‘Main Tables’ document, at table 5.3. Expenditure on housing matters for representation at court is located in table 6.5. Please note that costs in cases where legal aid was awarded, but which were recovered from the other side, are published separately at table 6.7.</p><p> </p><p>Legal aid for housing advice is available to help people with a range of housing problems, subject to statutory means and merits tests. The Legal Aid Agency frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country, and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear. As of 1 March there is at least one provider offering housing and debt services in all but 4 procurement areas, representing over 97% coverage across England and Wales. The Legal Aid Agency has opened a further tender to secure provision in the remaining areas. Irrespective of location in England and Wales, legal advice for housing remains available through a telephone service as well.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie grouped question UIN HL13970 question first answered 11/03/2019 17:45:29 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1105019

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2019
	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, how many applications for legal aid in housing related cases have been unsuccessful in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	236591
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/04/2019 answer text <p><strong>236582</strong>: The Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) complaints procedure is published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/legal-aid-agency/about/complaints-procedure" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/legal-aid-agency/about/complaints-procedure</a>. Complaints may be made by an applicant for funding, their legal representative, their MP, or anyone else involved in the case. Complaints are counted separately as they pass through the stages of the process. Data for the most recent five completed financial years is shown below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number responded to</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>3,887</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>2,785</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>3,446</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>3,727</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>3,234</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong>236585,236586 &amp; 236587:</strong> The Legal Aid Agency measures and monitors its performance via a number of key performance indicators and corporate targets. For the processing of civil legal aid applications, this target has changed within the last five years. It is therefore not possible to answer these questions in precisely the format requested.</p><p> </p><p>The LAA remained within the target for each reporting month between April 2014 and December 2018. Details of how these targets changed within the requested time period, and a breakdown by the categories of law enquired about, are included within the table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year</p></td><td><p>Target - % within working days</p></td><td><p>Proportion out of target - Housing</p></td><td><p>Proportion out of target - Discrimination</p></td><td><p>Annual performance across all civil legal aid applications</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td><td><p>0%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td><td><p>8%</p></td><td><p>25%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td><td><p>17%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>90%</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td><td><p>23%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19*</p></td><td><p>80%</p></td><td><p>13%</p></td><td><p>56%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>*(to Dec 2018)</p><p> </p><p>The target for 2018-19 (onwards) also includes the amount of time taken by providers, as well as LAA caseworkers, thus referring to an “end-to-end” process. This is reflected in the figures for this financial year shown above. Previous targets referred to LAA caseworker time-taken only.</p><p> </p><p><strong>236588:</strong> the LAA’s published statistics are separated into quarters for each financial year. The most recent period available is July-September 2018. During that time, four applications for a legal aid certificate in the Discrimination category of law were received. Of those, one application was referred to the Exceptional and Complex Case Team for a determination.</p><p> </p><p><strong>236589, 236590, 236591, 236592:</strong> Case volumes for the LAA are published on a quarterly basis at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics</a>. These show the number of matters started at the ‘Legal Help’ stage, where the application process is devolved to the provider, and applications and grants for a legal aid certificate, where this is determined by the LAA. Therefore it is not possible to comment on the grant rate of Legal Help matters as only successful applications are referred to us.</p><p>Table 6.1 of the aforesaid published statistics shows the number of applications for a legal aid certificate which were made in each period, and of those the volume which were granted. Please note that an application may not proceed to being granted for a variety of reasons, for example being withdrawn, abandoned, rejected for administrative reasons, or refused where the relevant funding criteria were not met.</p><p> </p><p>Table 5.1 of the published statistics show the number of matters opened at the Legal Help level by category of law during the period enquired about.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 236582 236585 236586 236587 236588 236589 236590 236592 question first answered 02/04/2019 16:31:53 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1105017

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2019
	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, how many and what proportion of legal aid applications in housing cases were successful in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	236589
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/04/2019 answer text <p><strong>236582</strong>: The Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) complaints procedure is published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/legal-aid-agency/about/complaints-procedure" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/legal-aid-agency/about/complaints-procedure</a>. Complaints may be made by an applicant for funding, their legal representative, their MP, or anyone else involved in the case. Complaints are counted separately as they pass through the stages of the process. Data for the most recent five completed financial years is shown below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number responded to</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>3,887</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>2,785</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>3,446</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>3,727</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>3,234</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong>236585,236586 &amp; 236587:</strong> The Legal Aid Agency measures and monitors its performance via a number of key performance indicators and corporate targets. For the processing of civil legal aid applications, this target has changed within the last five years. It is therefore not possible to answer these questions in precisely the format requested.</p><p> </p><p>The LAA remained within the target for each reporting month between April 2014 and December 2018. Details of how these targets changed within the requested time period, and a breakdown by the categories of law enquired about, are included within the table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year</p></td><td><p>Target - % within working days</p></td><td><p>Proportion out of target - Housing</p></td><td><p>Proportion out of target - Discrimination</p></td><td><p>Annual performance across all civil legal aid applications</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td><td><p>0%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td><td><p>8%</p></td><td><p>25%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td><td><p>17%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>90%</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td><td><p>23%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19*</p></td><td><p>80%</p></td><td><p>13%</p></td><td><p>56%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>*(to Dec 2018)</p><p> </p><p>The target for 2018-19 (onwards) also includes the amount of time taken by providers, as well as LAA caseworkers, thus referring to an “end-to-end” process. This is reflected in the figures for this financial year shown above. Previous targets referred to LAA caseworker time-taken only.</p><p> </p><p><strong>236588:</strong> the LAA’s published statistics are separated into quarters for each financial year. The most recent period available is July-September 2018. During that time, four applications for a legal aid certificate in the Discrimination category of law were received. Of those, one application was referred to the Exceptional and Complex Case Team for a determination.</p><p> </p><p><strong>236589, 236590, 236591, 236592:</strong> Case volumes for the LAA are published on a quarterly basis at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics</a>. These show the number of matters started at the ‘Legal Help’ stage, where the application process is devolved to the provider, and applications and grants for a legal aid certificate, where this is determined by the LAA. Therefore it is not possible to comment on the grant rate of Legal Help matters as only successful applications are referred to us.</p><p>Table 6.1 of the aforesaid published statistics shows the number of applications for a legal aid certificate which were made in each period, and of those the volume which were granted. Please note that an application may not proceed to being granted for a variety of reasons, for example being withdrawn, abandoned, rejected for administrative reasons, or refused where the relevant funding criteria were not met.</p><p> </p><p>Table 5.1 of the published statistics show the number of matters opened at the Legal Help level by category of law during the period enquired about.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 236582 236585 236586 236587 236588 236590 236591 236592 question first answered 02/04/2019 16:31:53 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts

1105013

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2019
	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, in what proportion of applications for housing-related Legal Aid the Legal Aid Agency has not met its processing target of 20 working days in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
	tabling member printed	Liz Saville Roberts
	uin	236586
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/04/2019 answer text <p><strong>236582</strong>: The Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) complaints procedure is published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/legal-aid-agency/about/complaints-procedure" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/legal-aid-agency/about/complaints-procedure</a>. Complaints may be made by an applicant for funding, their legal representative, their MP, or anyone else involved in the case. Complaints are counted separately as they pass through the stages of the process. Data for the most recent five completed financial years is shown below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number responded to</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>3,887</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>2,785</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>3,446</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>3,727</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>3,234</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong>236585,236586 &amp; 236587:</strong> The Legal Aid Agency measures and monitors its performance via a number of key performance indicators and corporate targets. For the processing of civil legal aid applications, this target has changed within the last five years. It is therefore not possible to answer these questions in precisely the format requested.</p><p> </p><p>The LAA remained within the target for each reporting month between April 2014 and December 2018. Details of how these targets changed within the requested time period, and a breakdown by the categories of law enquired about, are included within the table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year</p></td><td><p>Target - % within working days</p></td><td><p>Proportion out of target - Housing</p></td><td><p>Proportion out of target - Discrimination</p></td><td><p>Annual performance across all civil legal aid applications</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td><td><p>0%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td><td><p>8%</p></td><td><p>25%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td><td><p>17%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>90%</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td><td><p>23%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19*</p></td><td><p>80%</p></td><td><p>13%</p></td><td><p>56%</p></td><td><p>Target met</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>*(to Dec 2018)</p><p> </p><p>The target for 2018-19 (onwards) also includes the amount of time taken by providers, as well as LAA caseworkers, thus referring to an “end-to-end” process. This is reflected in the figures for this financial year shown above. Previous targets referred to LAA caseworker time-taken only.</p><p> </p><p><strong>236588:</strong> the LAA’s published statistics are separated into quarters for each financial year. The most recent period available is July-September 2018. During that time, four applications for a legal aid certificate in the Discrimination category of law were received. Of those, one application was referred to the Exceptional and Complex Case Team for a determination.</p><p> </p><p><strong>236589, 236590, 236591, 236592:</strong> Case volumes for the LAA are published on a quarterly basis at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics</a>. These show the number of matters started at the ‘Legal Help’ stage, where the application process is devolved to the provider, and applications and grants for a legal aid certificate, where this is determined by the LAA. Therefore it is not possible to comment on the grant rate of Legal Help matters as only successful applications are referred to us.</p><p>Table 6.1 of the aforesaid published statistics shows the number of applications for a legal aid certificate which were made in each period, and of those the volume which were granted. Please note that an application may not proceed to being granted for a variety of reasons, for example being withdrawn, abandoned, rejected for administrative reasons, or refused where the relevant funding criteria were not met.</p><p> </p><p>Table 5.1 of the published statistics show the number of matters opened at the Legal Help level by category of law during the period enquired about.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 236582 236585 236587 236588 236589 236590 236591 236592 question first answered 02/04/2019 16:31:53 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
	tabling member	4521 label Biography information for Liz Saville Roberts