Criminal legal aid solicitors looking to bid for a police station duty contract will be able to have questions to the Legal Aid Agency answered online next week. 

The agency will run a one-hour ‘webchat’ at 2pm on Tuesday 23 September, it announced this morning. 

Experts on the tender process for the 2015 duty provider crime contracts will be on hand to answer practitioner’s questions, the agency said, though it was unable to name the officials taking part.

Participants will be able to submit questions through the webchat page from 10am on Monday 22 September.

At 2pm the following day, the LAA will start posting answers in the ‘live chat’. Participants may ask questions or simply follow the discussion.

The LAA said the scope of the chat is ‘limited to questions directly related to the tender process’.

In a statement online, it said: ‘We may not be able to answer all questions during the live webchat and some questions may require a more detailed response. Any questions we have been unable to answer or which need a more detailed response will be looked at after the event and our responses added to the transcript.’

A transcript of the discussion will remain available to read on the webchat page after the live chat closes at 3pm.