Summary
Criminal Defence Service
26.The purpose of the Criminal Defence Service (CDS) is to secure the provision of advice, assistance and representation, according to the interests of justice, to people suspected of a criminal offence or facing criminal proceedings.
27.The Legal Services Commission will be empowered to secure these services through contracts with lawyers in private practice, or by providing them through salaried defenders (employed directly by the Commission or by non-profit-making organisations established for the purpose). This will necessarily mean that suspects’ and defendants’ choice of representative is limited to contracted or salaried defenders, although the intention is to offer a choice in all but exceptional cases (see paragraph 114 below). All contractors will be expected to meet quality-assurance standards; and contracts will, wherever possible, cover the full range of services from arrest until the case is completed. (The current arrangements for criminal legal aid are fragmented: a person can receive assistance in respect of the same alleged offence under several separate schemes, each resulting in a separate payment for the lawyers involved.)
28.There will be a transitional period while contracts are developed and extended to cover the full range of services. The Commission will therefore be able to pay lawyers on a case by case basis for representation provided on a non-contractual basis, according to remuneration scales set by order (that is broadly on the same basis as the current criminal legal aid scheme).
29.The Commission will gradually take over the functions currently undertaken by the higher courts in respect of criminal legal aid. At first, Court Service staff will continue to determine costs in most Crown Court cases; but the number of cases dealt with like this will diminish as the Commission increases the proportion of cases covered by contracts. Court staff will also continue to determine costs in cases before the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and the House of Lords; the scope for the Commission to contract for these cases as well will be considered in due course.
30.As now, the courts will grant representation under the scheme to defendants according to the interests of justice. But the courts will no longer have to conduct a means test as well before granting representation. Instead, at the end of a case before any court other than a magistrates’ court, the judge will have power to order a defendant to pay some or all of the cost of his or her defence. The Commission may investigate the defendant’s means in order to assist the judge. The intention is to abolish the system of means testing every defendant, which the Government considers an ineffective and wasteful aspect of the current scheme, while ensuring that in the more expensive cases defendants continue to pay towards the cost of their defence when they can afford to do so.
31.Under the current criminal legal aid scheme, most defendants (about 95%) are not required to make a contribution to their defence costs. Those who do contribute and are acquitted usually have their contributions returned. The cost of means testing and enforcing contribution orders is high in relation to the contributions recovered. In 1997/98, criminal legal aid contributions totalled £6.2 million, while the direct cost of administering the system was about £5 million. Means testing also leads to delays in cases being brought to court, because cases have to be adjourned when the evidence required to conduct the test is not produced.
