To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many requests (a) her Department and (b) the Legal Services Commission has received in the last 12 months for publication of the final report of the monitoring and evaluation study of the Public Defender Service. (114177)

In the last 12 months my Department has received two requests for publication of the final report of the monitoring and evaluation study of the PDS and the Legal Services Commission has received three.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs on what date her Department plans to publish the final report of the monitoring and evaluation study of the Public Defender Service; and if she will make a statement on the reasons for the time taken to complete this work. (114178)

The final report of the monitoring and evaluation study into the PDS was published on Monday 8 January 2007. The publication of the report was delayed for various reasons including the consideration of the interim findings of Lord Carter.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much the Public Defender Service cost in each year since inception; how many (a) qualified lawyers and (b) other staff the service has employed in the same period; how many cases the Public Defender Service has handled in the same period; and what the average cost was per case. (114179)

The costs of the Public Defender Service, the number of cases handled, the number of lawyers and other staff are given in the following table. Figures on average case costs for each of the years since the inception of the PDS are not available. However, average case costs for 2001-02 to 2003-04 are available in the independent report, “Evaluation of the Public Defender Services in England and Wales” (Table 5.7a p216). A copy of this report is available on the commission’s website at the following address:

http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/docs/pds/Public_Defenders _Report_PDFVersion6.pdf