I hereby give notice of the Ministry of Justice’s intention to seek an advance from the Contingencies Fund totalling £1.7m.

This follows the introduction of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, currently going through Parliament, and which we anticipate will receive Royal Assent by Autumn 2026.

Accessing the Contingency Fund allows the Department to manage the expenditure associated with developing a digital system for the Legal Aid Agency to effectively administer the provision of legal aid under the provisions of the Bill, which will expand the scope of legal aid for inquests. This expenditure will ensure that we are able to implement the legal aid provisions of the Bill as quickly as possible following Royal Assent. The expenditure will also mean that we develop this system in a way that ensures the continuing recovery and effective operation of existing legal aid digital systems and protects work underway to deliver transformed digital systems for legal aid.

Parliamentary approval for resource of £1,700,000 for this new service will be sought in a Main Estimate for Ministry of Justice. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £1,700,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund. The cash advance will then be repaid upon receiving Royal Assent of The Public Office (Accountability) Bill.

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