MPs grill MoJ over lack of research into legal aid cuts

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has told MPs of the government's "imperative" to cut the legal aid budget and how it allowed no time to gather evidence on possible impacts.

During a heated encounter with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), senior civil servants at the MoJ came under fire as MPs grilled them over the pace and extent of the government's controversial £300m cuts to civil legal aid.

MoJ private secretary, Ursula Brennan, confirmed to the PAC that the pressure to rush legal aid cuts meant it was "not possible to do research" into what impact the cuts would have. She also admitted that "the government was explicit it needed to make these changes swiftly".

"The piece of evidence that was overwhelming was the level of spending. The evidence required was that government said we wish to cut the legal aid bill," said Brennan.

Committee chair Margaret Hodge accused the MoJ of "endemic failure" and rounded on Brennan personally, saying she should have exercised "her proper powers to ensure you [the MoJ] do not go ahead without knowing the proper impact".

"The thing that really distressed me is how you embarked on this with so little evidence," said Hodge. "When you were changing the rules you had no idea the impact it would have."

The embarrassing altercation for the MoJ at the House of Commons follows a critical report from the National Audit Office (NAO) that revealed there has been a 30 per cent increase in the number of cases in family courts in which neither party had legal representation. The rise in litigants in person has been widely blamed for creating additional costs in time and finances to the MoJ and the courts.

Earlier this week, new research commissioned by charity the Legal Action Group (LAG) and supported by the Law Society, found that 88 per cent of GPs believe that patients not being able to obtain legal advice is having a negative impact on their health.

Responding to the PAC session, Sadiq Khan MP, the shadow justice secretary, said: "This latest evidence confirms what Labour and legal experts have been warning for years: the government's changes to legal aid are leading to widespread denial of access to justice.

"There are now parts of the country where people are struggling to access valuable legal advice. And the 30 per cent rise in litigants in person and the drastic fall in mediation assessments mean that many of the government's predicted savings have simply shifted to other departments."

Earlier this week, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, conceded that it would be "extraordinary" if there had not been occasions where a litigant in person would have been won had they been represented by a lawyer.

John van der Luit-Drummond is legal reporter for Solicitors Journal