Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Nigel Mills Excerpts
Tuesday 9th July 2013

(11 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Dominic Grieve Portrait The Attorney-General
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The key issues then were, as I dare say they are now, the maintenance of choice, achieving value for money and, above all, maintaining professional standards of representation in court. I note that the Lord Chancellor has already indicated that he is going to keep a choice of solicitors, and he is also keeping advocacy fees separate. Those things are in response to the current consultation, and I have no doubt that, building on that, there will be further possibilities to have a very important debate so that we can reach a conclusion where we have a viable system of criminal legal aid that can be maintained in the long term.

Nigel Mills Portrait Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)
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9. What recent assessment he has made of how effectively appeal cases have been handled by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Oliver Heald Portrait The Solicitor-General (Oliver Heald)
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The CPS is providing a first-class service to the senior appellate courts.

Nigel Mills Portrait Nigel Mills
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I am grateful for that answer. Will the Solicitor-General please explain to the House how he can satisfy himself that the CPS is indeed conducting those cases effectively? Does it compile and analyse any data on how it is performing?

Oliver Heald Portrait The Solicitor-General
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Yes, the detailed schedule of cases comes to the Attorney-General each month, and we have discovered that more cases are being dismissed without leave to appeal being granted, which suggests good CPS presentation; up to 57% of cases are now dismissed without leave.