At 31 July 2017 there were 14,206 open family legal aid cases, Associate Justice Minister Mark Mitchell says.
Mr Mitchell provided details of the cases in response to a series of written parliamentary questions from MP David Clendon.
Mr Clendon also asked for the average number of open family legal aid cases per solicitor (which Mr Mitchell says has been interpreted to be all lawyers (including both solicitors and barristers) approved to provide legal aid services.
Open Family Legal Aid cases, 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017
| Region | Open Cases | Average Open/Lawyer |
| Auckland | 3207 | 35 |
| Bay of Plenty | 1392 | 34 |
| Canterbury | 1584 | 29 |
| Gisborne | 272 | 33 |
| Hawke's Bay | 606 | 38 |
| Manawatu-Whanganui | 878 | 42 |
| Marlborough | 72 | 21 |
| Nelson | 394 | 26 |
| Northland | 881 | 57 |
| Otago | 611 | 25 |
| Southland | 311 | 22 |
| Taranaki | 492 | 32 |
| Waikato | 1708 | 47 |
| Wellington | 1757 | 34 |
| West Coast | 41 | 28 |
| Total | 14206 |
*At 31 July 2017; **Data only includes cases open from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017.
Information provided in response to further questions from Mr Clendon on the number of solicitors providing legal aid services who have rendered an invoice in the last six months and the number of solicitors providing family legal aid services who have rendered an invoice in the last six months shows that 11.3% of invoices received by legal aid services in the period from 1 January to 30 June 2017 were for family legal aid services.
Invoices received by Legal Aid Services 1 January to 30 June 2017
| Region | Total | Family Legal Aid | % Total |
| Auckland | 7082 | 883 | 12.5% |
| Bay of Plenty | 3660 | 346 | 9.5% |
| Canterbury | 3303 | 405 | 12.3% |
| Gisborne | 558 | 85 | 15.2% |
| Hawke's Bay | 1525 | 156 | 10.2% |
| Manawatu-Whanganui | 1834 | 190 | 10.4% |
| Marlborough | 139 | 25 | 18.0% |
| Nelson | 858 | 119 | 13.9% |
| Northland | 1803 | 150 | 8.3% |
| Otago | 1051 | 155 | 14.7% |
| Southland | 410 | 82 | 20.0% |
| Taranaki | 1032 | 120 | 11.6% |
| Waikato | 3889 | 361 | 9.3% |
| Wellington | 3500 | 370 | 10.6% |
| West Coast | 80 | 20 | 25.0% |
| Total | 30724 | 3467 | 11.3% |
Note that data is subject to change as new data is recorded and/or recoded.
In the year to 30 June 2017, 777 lawyers were granted approval to provide family legal aid services, Mr Mitchell says, in response to a further question.
Lawyers granted approval to provide family legal aid services, year to 30 June 2017
| Region | New family provider | Re-approved as family provider | Total | % Total |
| Auckland | 28 | 174 | 202 | 26.0% |
| Bay of Plenty | 20 | 65 | 85 | 10.9% |
| Canterbury | 16 | 64 | 80 | 10.3% |
| Gisborne | 4 | 14 | 18 | 2.3% |
| Hawke's Bay | 3 | 29 | 32 | 4.1% |
| Manawatu-Whanganui | 2 | 39 | 41 | 5.3% |
| Marlborough | 1 | 6 | 7 | 0.9% |
| Nelson | 4 | 25 | 29 | 3.7% |
| Northland | 3 | 29 | 32 | 4.1% |
| Otago | 5 | 42 | 47 | 6.0% |
| Southland | 6 | 19 | 25 | 3.2% |
| Taranaki | 7 | 21 | 27 | 3.5% |
| Waikato | 15 | 59 | 74 | 9.5% |
| Wellington | 17 | 57 | 74 | 9.5% |
| West Coast | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.3% |
| Total | 132 | 645 | 777 | 100.0% |
Note that data is subject to change as new data is recorded and/or recoded.
In the year to 30 June 2017, Mr Mitchell says there were 155 applications for approval as a new family legal aid provider (indicating that 85.2% of applications were successful) and 653 applications for re-approval as a family legal aid provider (a success rate of 98.8%).