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<p>Legal aid is available for immigration and asylum cases, including those involving
victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, for separated migrant children, and
for cases where someone is challenging a detention decision.</p><p> </p><p>Earlier
in November, the Legal Aid Agency published a list of immigration legal services providers
that are willing and able to provide remote advice to clients in the South West of
England; the list is available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-providers-south-west-support-directory</a>.</p><p>
</p><p>The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context
of the civil legal aid market as a whole across eleven categories (including immigration)
so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Review’s final report is
expected in March 2024. When the Illegal Migration Act 2023 is implemented, individuals
who receive a removal notice under the IMA will have access to free legal advice in
relation to that notice.</p><p>Section 27(2) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment
of Offenders Act 2012 allows the Lord Chancellor to make arrangements for legal services
to be provided by telephone or by other electronic means. Whether legal advice in
a particular case is delivered remotely or in-person is down to the discretion of
the legal provider. As set out in the Government’s response of 28 September 2023 to
the consultation on legal aid fees for IMA work, which included an equality impact
assessment (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-bill/outcome/legal-aid-fees-in-the-illegal-migration-act-government-response</a>),
a great deal of legal advice is already provided “remotely”, largely by telephone.
The Government intends to allow advice to be provided remotely at Detained Duty Advice
Scheme surgeries for those detained at Immigration Removal Centres. The Government
acknowledges and agrees with stakeholder feedback on the need for some clients to
continue to be seen face-to-face. Accordingly, conducting remote advice will be enabled
at provider discretion, thus ensuring the continuation of appropriate decisions on
the delivery of advice in relation to vulnerable clients.</p><p> </p><p>The Department
does not have data on how the advice is ultimately provided to the clients (whether
face-to-face or remotely) because the decision on how to provide the service is at
the discretion of the service providers, taking into account the best interests of
the client. Data on the number of legal aid matters started on immigration and asylum
is publicly available as part of the quarterly legal aid statistics (see tables 5.1
and 6.2 in the tables published at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-april-to-june-2023</a>).
Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, all immigration advisers must be registered
with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) or be regulated by
a Designated Qualifying Regulator (DQR). The OISC and the DQRs are responsible for
ensuring immigration advisers are fit, competent, and act in their clients’ best interests.
In relation to work funded under legal aid, the “Standard Civil Contract 2018: Immigration
and Asylum Specification” includes a number of measures to ensure immigration and
asylum advice is only provided by caseworkers who hold appropriate accreditation.</p>
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