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Written question asked by Nick Timothy (Conservative) on Monday, 23 March 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 March 2026 (named day). It was answered by Sarah Sackman (Labour) on Thursday, 26 March 2026 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Legal Aid Scheme: Immigration

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding has been provided to legal aid providers to represent appellants in the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber in each year since 2020, broken down by (a) ethnicity, and (b) nationality of the appellant.

Answer

Legal aid expenditure in respect of cases before the First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) broken down by ethnicity is set out in the annexed table. Data is self-reported to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) by applicants or their legal aid solicitor, it is not verified by the LAA. It is not mandatory for applicants to complete the Equality and Diversity section of an application. Where this has been left blank ethnicity is recorded as ‘unknown’.

Legal aid funding is not paid directly to the individual in receipt of legal aid. Legal aid is only paid to legal providers for the provision of legal advice and representation. Data in the annexed table therefore reflects expenditure relating to bills submitted by legal aid providers.

Information relating to nationality of applicants is not centrally held.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
122800
Session
2024-26
Attachment
PQ_Annex
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Appeals Asylum Legal aid scheme Immigration First-tier Tribunal
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk