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Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:11 pm
Time: 9:11 pm
Results for legal services (northern ireland)
1 results foundAuthor: Corrigan, James Title: Use of Legal Services by the Criminal Justice System Summary: The criminal justice system is the largest purchaser of legal services in the public sector. Over the three year period 2007-10, the cost of criminal legal aid was £155 million. The cost of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) was £106 million. In addition the legal services necessary to support the operational and corporate activities of other justice organisations was £36 million over the same period. The purpose of the inspection was to assess the manner in which legal services were identified and resourced, determine the breakdown of legal expenditure and review procurement arrangements for external legal services. The inspection did not consider criminal legal aid in detail as this has recently been subject to work by the Northern Ireland Audit Office. The inspection report has identified a number of changes required regarding the ways in which legal services are provided. In particular the purchasing of legal services lacks the discipline used and expected for other professional services. Standard competitive arrangements are embryonic (used mainly for the services of solicitors) with costs determined by a range of different fee structures which have lacked transparency and predictability. Many justice organisations were unaware of the actual costs until completion of the work and this can exceed the original estimates. This practice is generally considered unacceptable in other commercial environments, where the supplier of a service would be expected to provide an estimate of the costs of service provision and to justify and explain variations from these estimates. The inspection report also highlighted the differential payments made to defence and prosecution counsel. There is a need to develop a common approach to achieve a convergence between the level of prosecution and legal aid fees. A significant and sustained improvement in value for money across the justice system requires a more co-ordinated and consistent approach by public sector buyers. The current fragmented approach linked to a plethora of different fee arrangements/schemes for different types of services (for example, criminal legal aid, civil work, prosecution and defence work) has hindered progress. The Department of Justice (DoJ) is best placed to take the lead in this regard. Details: Belfast: Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland, 2011. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 29, 2011 at: http://www.cjini.org/CJNI/files/50/503670ba-f0a8-4fc8-9842-725c09c0100e.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cjini.org/CJNI/files/50/503670ba-f0a8-4fc8-9842-725c09c0100e.pdf Shelf Number: 121895 Keywords: CourtsCriminal Justice SystemLegal Services (Northern Ireland)Prosecution |