I beg to move amendment No. 341, in

clause 67, page 41, line 11, after 'present,' insert

'and public funding must be available to allow for the defendant to be represented'.

The amendment makes a straightforward point. When the important application to reopen a case is made to the Court of Appeal—that would be new territory at the beginning, and would arise only in rare circumstances after that—the presumption would be that the person who had been acquitted was entitled be present, to be represented and to be publicly funded, if necessary. A later amendment will clarify that entitlement.

I hope that the Minister advises the Committee to accept the amendment.

I hope that the hon. Gentleman will be reassured when I tell him that public funding will be available for these hearings, for the application by the prosecution to quash the acquittal and for any retrial ordered by the Court of Appeal. I can go into detail about how it would be provided if he wishes me to do so.

Funding is already available for retrial under section 12(2) of the Access to Justice Act 1999, and a model of the regulation for the application hearing already exists in the form of regulation 3(3) of the Criminal Defence Service (General)(No. 2) Regulations 2001, which deals with quashing an acquittal under the Criminal Procedure and Investigation Act 1996. They are considered incidental to the proceedings. The amendment is undesirable, as section 12 of the 1999 Act refers not to specific types of case, but only to broad categories, and changing the scope of CDS for those purposes would entail a specific reference to the Bill that we prefer to avoid. We would prefer to amend the regulations under section 12(2)(g).

The amendment is unnecessary, as the Government have already recognised the need to make funding available for the applications and the subsequent substantive hearings.

That sounds persuasive. I am reassured by what the Minister says and I shall take him at his word, but I will still get someone to check it later. If a flaw is discovered, we shall no doubt have the opportunity to return to the matter. There is no dispute on the principle, and on that basis I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Clause 67 ordered to stand part of the Bill.