The Ministry of Justice recently held a consultation on increasing the limits associated with claims for payment on account. This consultation closed on 16 June 2020.<\/p>
Following this, the limit will be increased, allowing four such requests to be made in a twelve month period. This will be implemented once the necessary updates to infrastructure are completed, and the impact of this change will be kept under review.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4538", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Keen of Elie"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-06-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-06-23T16:40:53.897Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-06-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Legal Aid Scheme: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the risk of the restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a significant loss of income for legal aid firms, what assessment they have made of the impact of the Legal Aid Agency\u2019s practice of (1) permitting only two claims a year for ongoing cases, and (2) only paying 75 per cent of such claims.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2510", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Whitaker"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Baroness Whitaker"} ], "uin" : "HL5500"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1202115", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1202115/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
MoJ is continuing to work closely with the Legal Aid Agency and HMCTS to assess the impact of Covid-19 on legal aid provision, and to support practitioners to work remotely when possible.<\/p>
The Government have taken measures to support the sector include paying for virtual hearings in the same way as in-person hearings, halting pursuit of outstanding debts, relaxing some evidence requirements, and encouraging legal practitioners to use existing avenues of financial help, such as the ability to apply for early payment for work already done on a case. These measures will help Legal Aid providers adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>
PN 02/20, which has been updated in PPN 04/20, requires contracting authorities to determine whether a supplier is \u2018at risk\u2019. In making that determination, an authority will need to consider what steps have been taken by a public-sector provider to access other available support, because providers have no automatic entitlement to relief payments under the PPN and should not use them to supplement or duplicate the wider support measures that have been made available to UK businesses.<\/p>
Data on legal aid expenditure on areas such as housing possession is released quarterly by the Legal Aid Agency, with the next release scheduled for September.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4538", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Keen of Elie"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-06-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-06-23T17:00:37.63Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-06-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Legal Aid Scheme: Coronavirus"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on legal aid firms of (1) the stay on possession proceedings for tenants until the end of August, and (2) any subsequent substantial loss of income; and what steps they are taking to ensure that such firms are paid for their work in accordance with the Cabinet Office\u2019s Procurement Policy Note 02/20: Supplier relief due to COVID-19, published on 20 March.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2510", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Whitaker"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Baroness Whitaker"} ], "uin" : "HL5501"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }