Justice Centre I 19 Aitken Street
DX SX10088 I Wellington
T 04 918 8800 I F 04 918 8820
[email address] I www.justice.govt.nz
22 December 2022
I Brown
[FYI request #20448 email]
Our ref: OIA 98970
Tena koe I Brown
Official Information Act request: Public Defence Service data
Thank you for your email of 2 September 2022 requesting, under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), information regarding Public Defence Service (PDS)
data. On 7 September 2022, you were contacted to clarify question 5 of your request.
You responded to the clarification on the same date. Our responses are below:
1.
The proportion of assignments made to the Public Defence Service
(POS) both as a percentage and in numbers (overall assignments for
each centre and number assigned to the POS), for each centre where
there is a POS office for the time period from 1 July to 30 June for the
years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020,
2021, and 2022:
a.
at each of the PAL levels and
b.
appeals;
2.
The number of jury trials undertaken by the PDS in each centre for
those same time periods.
3.
The revenue the PDS received from assignments both as a service
nationally and per office for the same time periods; and
4.
Any and all analyses, reports, memoranda, or anything else showing
or referring to the cost-effectiveness per case compared to the private
defence bar both as a service as a whole and per centre, from 2014
onwards; and
5.
Any PDS rules, guidelines, policies, or any other information for staff
members relating to unsupervised appearances by PAL 1 PDS
providers in a court for a case where they do not have the PAL
approval relevant to the case they are appearing on. In other words,
where a
PDS lawyer with only a PAL 1 approval is appearing on a PAL
2,
3, or 4 matter unsupervised.
In response to
part 1 a of your request, please refer to tables 1-4.
In response to
part 1 b of your request, we have interpreted this request to mean
appeals of assignments that Legal Aid Services have passed onto PDS. Please refer
to tables 5-8.
