A final amended version of the Criminal Defence Service (Funding) (Amendment) Order 2012 has now been published, following a limited consultation. This follows the amendments made to the CDS Funding Order in October 2011 to reflect changes to fees set out in the government's green paper consultation. A number of issues raised by the profession have been clarified, and an attempt has been made to redefine pages of prosecution evidence (PPE) to take into account future service of prosecution evidence by electronic means.
Key changes to the funding order include:
- clarification of claims for payment for disbursements in relation to committal proceedings
- clarification of 'standard appearance' definition
- confirmation that evidence given under section 27 of the Youth justice and Criminal Evidence Act is included within PPE
- amendments to the definition of PPE to include documents served electronically
The Law Society still has some concerns over the definition of PPE in relation to electronically served documents.
Read our response to the consultation