§ Mr. CameronTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made with the Government's plans for pilots for a criminal defence service; and if he will make a statement. [31440]
§ Mr. WillsI have been asked to reply.
I believe that this question refers to the pilots of the Public Defender Service (PDS). The Criminal Defence Service is the name of the overall scheme through which 314W criminal defence services are provided. It covers a variety of flexible ways of providing services, of which the PDS is one, in order to achieve quality and value for money.
PDS offices opened in Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Swansea and Birmingham on 14, 17 and 21 May and 11 July 2001 respectively. As part of the first phase of the PDS pilot, the Legal Services Commission plans to open a fifth office in Cheltenham in April 2002 and a sixth shortly after that. The location of the sixth office has yet to be settled. A programme of research will begin shortly, which will evaluate the PDS and make recommendations for its future.