Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

The noble Earl asks how much the 95,000 applications cost. I do not have the full figures with me—I shall try to find them—but the average cost per case of legally aided defence in the magistrates’ courts is £499. An estimated cost of agreeing to the noble Earl’s amendment would be about £800,000. He may say that £800,000 is not a lot of money, but it is. We have to make sure when taking decisions on legal aid that we have as cost-effective an approach as possible. For those reasons I am going to resist the amendment.