Public Defender System

HC Deb 02 February 2004 vol 417 c727W

Mr. Drew

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans he has to extend the public defender system. [151774]

Mr. Lammy

In order to better assess the performance of the PDS, the LSC, with the agreement of Ministers, increased the number of PDS offices from six to eight in 2003. Ministers will make a decision on the future of the PDS in the light of the research at the end of 2005. There are no current plans to open further offices but the Government and the LSC have always said that the PDS provides a flexible option to deliver criminal defence services, for example, where existing provision is low, or of poor quality.