§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the impact on the number of firms that will be able to put in applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission into legal aid support following the introduction of the changes to the franchise requirements in April 2001. [140836]
§ Mr. LockIn order to ensure, minimum quality standards for firms providing publicly funded defence services, from 2 October 2000, only those firms with a Crime Franchise were entitled to carry out work funded by the Legal Services Commission. This includes applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). Although the number of offices of legal firms doing criminal work reduced from some 6,500 to 3,300, these 3,300 offices represented over 90 per cent. of expenditure for criminal legal aid in the previous 12 months.
In order to accommodate those firms which specialised in CCRC work, special arrangements were introduced in March 2000 to enable them to obtain a Crime Franchise.
From April 2001 all work funded by the LSC will be under contract and all firms with a Crime Franchise will be eligible. It is expected that the 3,300 quality assured firms currently working in this area will apply for a contract and continue to provide services after April 2001.
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much legal aid was paid for appeals to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in each of the past three years. [140842]
§ Jane KennedyCriminal legal advice and assistance is available to make applications before the Criminal Cases Review Commission. However, the Legal Services Commission does not keep central records at the necessary level of detail to readily identify expenditure on these cases. The information requested could therefore be obtained only at disproportionate cost.