Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

moved Amendment No. 116A: 116A: Clause 105, page 71, line 4, leave out ““(2)(a)”” and insert ““(2)”” The noble and learned Baroness said: I wish to speak to government Amendments Nos. 116A, 116B, 116C, 116D and 180C and all the other amendments in this group. The government amendments respond to concerns voiced by the legal profession and Members of both Houses that the current Clause 105 would enable Crown Prosecution Service non-lawyers to appear in trials of potentially serious either-way offences that may be heard before the magistrates’ court. Accordingly, the proposed amendments to Clause 105 will limit the trial element of the clause by restricting the statutory powers of Crown Prosecution Service non-lawyers, referred to as designated caseworkers, to undertaking trials of summary-only offences in the magistrates’ court. This we believe will do much to address the concerns that have been raised in both Houses. A consequential amendment to the clause provides clarity as to the purpose and intention of Section 7A (2)(b) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. This subsection relates to the subsidiary powers of a designated caseworker. The amendment widens the scope of the current subsection of the Act to include civil proceedings. We hope that, in the phrasing of these amendments, Members of the Committee will feel that we have gone a long way to address the anxiety, which is really predicated on everyone’s desire to maintain a high quality of advocacy in the courts. I have written a letter setting out some of the history of designated caseworkers, a copy of which has been put in the Library of the House, but I hope that Members of the Committee have had a copy of it. Therefore, with the Committee’s permission, I will not refer to all those matters of historical relevance. I will, however, address some of the concerns that have been raised; we have listened to their broad nature and believe that we can respond. Restricting the trial element of the clause to summary-only offences will remove the possibility, albeit remote, that the Crown Prosecution Service may have deployed a designated caseworker to prosecute a trial involving a serious either-way offence before the magistrates’ court. This concern was voiced at Second Reading and the Government have now moved to address it. We have not sought to place such a further limitation in the Bill, as it is sensible to allow for the possibility that at some point in the future designated caseworkers may have obtained the trial skills and experience that make it desirable for them to expand into other trial work. To limit unduly the scope of the clause now, requiring further amendment in due course, would not, I respectfully suggest, be an effective use of parliamentary time. In addition, there is an effective statutory mechanism already in place in Section 7A(3) and (4) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 that can be deployed to provide the required safeguard. The current Section 7A(3) and (4) of that Act places a statutory obligation on the Director of Public Prosecutions to issue general instructions that govern the nature and type of hearing in which a designated caseworker may be deployed. The Director of Public Prosecutions has assured me, and I can in turn assure the Committee, that the instructions would be amended to limit the deployment of designated caseworkers to trials involving summary-only offences that are non-imprisonable. The instructions will also provide guidance that will exclude certain categories of trials, such as those where there is a known technical defence involving complex legal issues and those cases that may be considered sensitive; for example, where there is a vulnerable child witness, an elderly person, a victim or matters of that sort that would require evidence to be taken by video link. Further, I have agreed with the Director of Public Prosecutions that should the Crown Prosecution Service wish in later years to extend the nature of trials that a designated caseworker may undertake, the Attorney-General, as their superintending Minister, must be consulted and satisfied that any extension is justified. I shall also address another concern voiced at Second Reading: that designated caseworkers are not subject to any external regulation. The Crown Prosecution Service acknowledges that concern and accepts that at a time of greater regulation of the legal profession it is important to introduce external regulation for designated caseworkers. Accordingly, I am pleased to confirm that the Crown Prosecution Service has reached agreement, in principle, that later this year designated caseworkers will be granted special membership of the Institute of Legal Executives. The institute will also work with the Crown Prosecution Service to accredit its current and future designated caseworker training programme. Membership will mean that designated caseworkers come within the institute’s regulatory framework. On admission to the Institute of Legal Executives, designated caseworkers will be governed by its professional codes and in essence they will be in the same regulatory position as solicitors and barristers. To that end I can confirm that the Crown Prosecution Service and the institute are in discussion with a view to harmonising the current Crown Prosecution Service Statement of Ethical Principles, which is, in effect, the Crown Prosecution Service’s comprehensive code of conduct and advocacy code. The institute will look also at how its regulatory and conduct regime can incorporate the CPS standards. One of the issues about which people were concerned was that designated caseworkers may be young slips of a thing. Doubtless, they are, when compared to this august House; but I understand that a majority, about 70 per cent, tend to be between 30 and 50—so they are young—and some 68 per cent are women. This has been an excellent way of trying to broaden diversity and we are much encouraged that many aspire to and achieve professional status as solicitors or barristers. One designated caseworker has reached the dizzy heights of Chief Crown Prosecutor. So these caseworkers are a real advantage to the legal profession as a whole. I hope that I have been able to reassure the Committee that this is a material advantage and we will keep the closest eye upon it. I should say that on taking over this issue, I scrutinised these provisions very carefully to assure myself that I could put them before the Committee without hesitation, and this I do. I beg to move.