Recommendation 25

While we welcome the minister’s stated intention to ensure that legal aid provision is “as broad as it needs to be”, we are concerned that the government intends to wait until after the bill has passed before determining whether changes to legal aid provision are required. The government has not confirmed whether it intends to review criminal legal aid eligibility thresholds, nor whether it accepts Sir Brian Leveson’s recommendation that those thresholds should be increased. The government must clarify its position on both issues and set out how it will ensure that defendants are not unfairly disadvantaged in accessing appeal rights as a result of these reforms before the bill is enacted. (Recommendation, Paragraph 103) 92 The Crown Court