To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what representations has he received from (a) barristers, (b) solicitors, and (c) legal aid providers regarding the Legal Aid Agency data breach on 23 April 2025.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to restore Legal Aid Agency digital services since the data breach on 23 April 2025.

We acknowledge and appreciate the constructive way that providers have worked with us following the serious criminal attack on the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) digital systems. They have continued to do vital work in challenging circumstances.

The LAA and Ministers have proactively engaged with representative bodies throughout to address any concerns regarding the criminal attack on LAA systems. Our focus was first to maintain access to justice and then to ensure providers had access to the cash flow that they needed. The LAA sought views and feedback from provider representative bodies to help shape contingency measures and supporting guidance in a way which supports legal aid providers most effectively. Regular updates have been provided to legal aid providers via email and published on the LAA’s dedicated cyber incident webpage and FAQ page.

The Department has worked around the clock to ensure that digital services were restored as swiftly and safely as possible. The LAA Portal has been replaced by a new, secure single sign-in tool for LAA online services (SiLAS). We worked closely with providers to test functionality before bringing providers back onto our systems in a careful, phased approach. We are now in a position where all our civil systems accessible via SiLAS are operational alongside our crime systems, which were restored in September.