Issue 68  

News

AGFS Scheme 11 - 31 December 2018

Having carefully considered consultees’ concerns, we are proceeding with an amended version of the proposals set out at consultation. To address concerns about the level of fees and the delay to implementation, we are: spending a further £8m on the scheme against the “baseline” of 2016-17 data, focused on better remunerating the “work done” by more junior advocates, bringing the estimated total additional spending on the scheme to around £23m more than actual spend on 2016-17 cases; and bringing forward the proposed 1% increase to all fees from April 2019 to the coming into force date of Scheme 11, meaning that advocates benefit from this change sooner than originally proposed.

The Government will be laying a Statutory Instrument in Parliament today (10 December) to bring the new scheme into effect. On this basis, we anticipate that the new scheme will come into force on 31 December 2018.

The CBA has summarised the changes here.

service.gov.uk

'Police to get largest funding increase since 2010'

The Home Office has today (Thursday 13 December) announced the largest increase in police funding since 2010.

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will receive:

  • £7.8 billion in general government grants, which is £161 million more than the previous year;

  • more money to spend locally (the council tax referendum threshold will be £24 for a Band D property – if PCCs ask households to contribute an extra £2 a month, this would generate around £510 million in additional funding)

www.gov.uk

Government Response to the Justice Select Committee’s Eleventh Report of Session 2017-19: Disclosure of Evidence in Criminal Cases

This cross-government response addresses recommendations made to the Ministry of Justice, Attorney General’s Office and Home Office by the Justice Select Committee’s report on Disclosure of Evidence in Criminal Cases. A comprehensive analysis of disclosure procedures is to be found in the Attorney General’s Review, published on 15 November 20181, which makes a number of recommendations as to the next steps which have been agreed across the criminal justice agencies.

The MoJ recently announced that it intends to launch a cross-cutting review of criminal legal aid fees in January 2019. In light of the Committee’s recent reports on both criminal legal aid and disclosure in criminal cases, the Attorney General’s review of disclosure, and broader changes across the criminal justice system, we believe it is time to think more widely about the future of criminal legal aid fees. We will set out further details in our response to the Justice Select Committee’s report on Legal Aid shortly.

service.gov.uk

Legal aid advice network 'decimated' by funding cuts - BBC News

Cuts to legal aid have created "deserts" of provision across England and Wales, a BBC investigation found. Analysis shows up to a million people live in areas with no legal aid provision for housing, with a further 15 million in areas with one provider.

The BBC's Shared Data Unit has analysed Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Agency data since 2011-12. It found:

  • Around a million fewer claims for legal aid are being processed each year.

  • More than 1,000 fewer legal aid providers were paid for civil legal aid work than in 2011-12.

  • Four legal aid providers for welfare cover Wales and the South West while 41 cover London and the South East.

  • Almost half of all community care legal aid providers are based in London.

bbc.co.uk

Cases

'Russell Bishop guilty of murdering two nine-year-old girls in 'double jeopardy' trial'

Russell Bishop, 52, was acquitted of their murders at trial in 1987. However, following a new investigation by Sussex Police and the obtaining of new forensic evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service made a successful application to the Court of Appeal to quash the acquittal of Bishop under the ‘double jeopardy’ law introduced in 2003. To do this, the CPS had to prove to the court that there was new and compelling evidence in the case.

The Court of Appeal ordered a retrial in December 2017 and Bishop was convicted following a trial at the Old Bailey which concluded today (10 December). Along with the new forensic evidence, the prosecution also presented details of the defendant’s movements at the time of the killings, the lies he told police and others, together with his subsequent conviction for a similar attack in 1990, in which a seven-year-old girl was kidnapped and left for dead in Brighton.

The sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Sweeney can be found here.

cps.gov.uk

Other

Lady Justice Rafferty at Criminal Law Review Conference

There will emerge a theme running through what I want to suggest this morning and I begin by underlining the importance and the usefulness of the Criminal Procedure Rules, which by statute must be “simple and simply expressed”

Despite some technological glitches s.28 is set to feature across the jurisdiction. The senior judiciary has always recognised its value (to take one example, the guilty plea rate has gone up for sexual offences against young children where consent is no defence) but we are realists. For success, technology must support the system and cope with the demands.

We’ve looked together at the stormclouds gathering over Grounds of Appeal which are too long, rambling, waffling, warbling, all four, and/or which otherwise disappoint. What’s the best control mechanism? Is it tough Criminal Procedure Rule vocabulary? Is it a Court of Appeal Criminal Division judgment or three, from the top, reiterating disapprobation? Is it a Criminal Practice Direction in firm tones? All the above?

www.judiciary.uk

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