{ "format" : "linked-data-api", "version" : "0.2", "result" : {"_about" : "http://eldaddp.azurewebsites.net/answeredquestions.text?AnsweringBody.=Ministry+of+Justice&dateTabled=2015-11-30&creator.label=Biography+information+for+Julie+Cooper", "definition" : "http://eldaddp.azurewebsites.net/meta/answeredquestions.text?AnsweringBody.=Ministry+of+Justice&dateTabled=2015-11-30&creator.label=Biography+information+for+Julie+Cooper", "extendedMetadataVersion" : "http://eldaddp.azurewebsites.net/answeredquestions.text?AnsweringBody.=Ministry+of+Justice&dateTabled=2015-11-30&_metadata=all&creator.label=Biography+information+for+Julie+Cooper", "first" : "http://eldaddp.azurewebsites.net/answeredquestions.text?_page=0&AnsweringBody.=Ministry+of+Justice&dateTabled=2015-11-30&creator.label=Biography+information+for+Julie+Cooper", "hasPart" : "http://eldaddp.azurewebsites.net/answeredquestions.text?AnsweringBody.=Ministry+of+Justice&dateTabled=2015-11-30&creator.label=Biography+information+for+Julie+Cooper", "isPartOf" : "http://eldaddp.azurewebsites.net/answeredquestions.text?AnsweringBody.=Ministry+of+Justice&dateTabled=2015-11-30&creator.label=Biography+information+for+Julie+Cooper", "items" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/433267", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/433267/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "

When reform began we had an unsustainably expensive legal aid system - costing more than £2 billion every year. We still have a very generous system, last year we spent £1.6bn on legal aid, around a quarter of the department\u2019s expenditure.<\/p>

Statistics on legal aid in England and Wales are published every quarter, presenting the key statistics on workload and expenditure across both the criminal and civil legal aid schemes. The statistics are available via https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics<\/a>. The vast majority of legal aid work is carried out by solicitors working in the private sector. It is difficult to summarise workloads across the legal aid system meaningfully within a single number because there is no single definition of a case that applies to all of the diverse services being provided, so users of legal aid statistics are best advised to look at trends in workload for each area of legal aid separately.<\/p>

For many areas of civil law, the implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) led to a reduction of workload for solicitors in areas where legal aidwas reduced.<\/p>

LASPO did not change eligibility or scope in relation to criminal legal aid.<\/p>
"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1496", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Shailesh Vara"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "North West Cambridgeshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Shailesh Vara"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-12-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-12-08T17:51:33.797Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-11-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Legal Aid Scheme"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the reduction in the number of legal aid cases taken on by solicitors in the private sector; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the change to legal aid provision on such solicitors take up of such cases.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4405", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Julie Cooper"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Burnley"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Julie Cooper"} ], "uin" : "18091"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }