Lord Paddick
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(5 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Keen of Elie
Recent inquiries indicated that in something like 25% of cases a defence statement was not produced or not produced timeously.
Lord Paddick (LD)
My Lords, the noble and learned Lord said that he had not heard that a lack of resources was to blame for these failures. He may not have heard my noble friend the former Director of Public Prosecutions say on “Newsnight” last night that he felt that it was as a result of a 25% reduction in funding for the CPS and the loss of hundreds of lawyers—and, I add to that, the loss of thousands of police officers and an ongoing 25% reduction in their resources could be to blame.
Lord Keen of Elie
I note the noble Lord’s careful use of “could”. That is why we will await the outcome of the present inquiries and investigations before we draw any conclusions.