Testing Testing

Friend of this site Tim Collins, at No 6 Chambers in Leeds, has patiently been digging for the statistical basis of PCT for some time now. To no avail.

In particular he has doggedly been seeking some rational, evidential basis to justify the continued operation of the Public Defenders Service (PDS). If you remember it was proposed that this be exempted from competitive tendering and be gifted one of the contracts in its 4 remaining outlets.

There has never been an economic argument for this failed experiment and no serious figures have been published for years. Those they did never really properly compared this more expensive project to private practice.

The 4-point justification for its existence in the consultation paper was as follows;

be a test bed for methods of delivery
model the effects of criminal legal aid policy
act as a safeguard against market failure
provide a benchmark for legal aid delivery

After a couple of months chasing this information he has been told that apparently they have been doing a bit of the first in Wales, so now you know.

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