COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS REPORT ON REFORM OF LEGAL AID

Early day motion 785, tabled 10 February 2015 by Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru). Signed by 29 members.

That this House welcomes the Thirty-sixth Report from the Committee of Public Accounts, on Implementing reforms to civil legal aid, HC 808; is concerned by the figures published by the Committee which highlight a 30 per cent rise in cases starting in family courts where both parties are representing themselves as well as a significant fall in mediation for family law cases of 38 per cent in the year after the reforms were implemented; is alarmed by the lack of routine data collection by the Ministry of Justice on key issues such as the length of hearing, types of cases and representation of parties; agrees with the Committee's recommendation that such information should be collected in order to understand and manage the long-term impact of litigants in person; and calls on the Government and the Secretary of State for Justice urgently to review their reforms and fully evaluate their impact on the public.

Signatures by party: Labour 18, Liberal Democrat 3, Independent 2, Plaid Cymru 2, Conservative 1, DUP 1, Green 1, Respect 1.