CRIMINAL DEFENCE SERVICE BILL

KEY BENEFITS

• Will ensure that the taxpayer receives best value for money from the Criminal Defence Service (CDS) - formerly criminal legal aid
• Transfers the responsibility for grant of criminal legal aid from the courts to the Legal Services Commission (LSC)
• Re-introduce the means test for criminal cases

TERRITORIAL EXTENT

• Applies to England and Wales

PROGRESS IN PARLIAMENT

This Bill was introduced to Parliament on 15/12/04. You can download a copy of the Bill text here. Information about the Bill's progress in parliament can be found here and you can search the official report (Hansard) for the text of debates on the Bill at Second Reading or Committee stage here. 

COMMENTS

If you have any comments on the proposals you can email them to:

CriminalDefenceService.BillTeam@dca.gsi.gov.uk