Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution – in the Senedd at 2:20 pm on 6 July 2022.
Thank you for those supplementary points and question. Our view is that the whole justice system, and legal aid in particular, has been chronically underfunded for some time, and Wales is suffering, in fact, disproportionately. We have had, of course, the Bellamy review. I met with Lord Bellamy, and we discussed the improvements that he is proposing in respect of criminal legal aid. Some improvements have been not only recommended, but it has been indicated by the UK Government that they will be implemented. Of course, Lord Bellamy is now a justice Minister, but it's profoundly disappointing that the UK Government has done so little and refused to move on so many of the recommendations, but also potential recommendations that could be made.
The reality is—and we begin to see this in Wales ourselves, particularly within the criminal area, but in many other areas where legal aid is no longer available—that we are seeing fewer and fewer young solicitors and young barristers coming into the profession to do legal aid work, to do criminal legal aid work. We already have a problem with advice deserts and there are very significant intrinsic and now institutionalised issues that undermine the future in respect of access to justice and the ability to get access to proper legal representation.