Written question asked by Anne Main (Conservative) on Wednesday, 13 July 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 18 July 2011. It was answered by Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative) on Monday, 18 July 2011 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Immigration Advisory Service

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with the Immigration Advisory Service regarding the status of the current clients of the service and their on-going legal cases.

Answer: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has been working closely with Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) for some time now following an audit which raised concerns around the company's financial management and claims irregularities and as such, the Trustees of the IAS decided that the organisation had to enter into administration on 8 July 2011.The primary concern for the Government and the LSC now is to ensure clients of IAS continue to get the help they need. The LSC expects that the administration of IAS will allow a managed close down process of IAS's activities and an orderly transfer of clients to new providers. Provisional arrangements have been made to ensure that any emergency cases are dealt with speedily.Meanwhile the LSC is identifying alternative advice provision in the areas affected and arrangements for case transfer will follow as soon as possible. Three IAS hub centres will be kept open for the moment: in Manchester, Birmingham and Bradford which will help facilitate the transfer of these cases.

Secondary information