FINANCIAL EFFECTS OF THE BILL

193.     Referrals to youth offender panels will save the Probation Service around £5.1 million, but will impose costs of around £0.5 million because of loss of revenue from fines.

194.     Clause 6 will result in some increased recruitment and training costs, which will be met by the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement for pilot youth justice schemes in 2000/2001 and 2001/2002.

195.     Part I of the Bill is intended to reduce offending by young people and thereby reduce the costs of the youth justice system in the longer term.

Part II

196.     The majority of the measures in Part II of the Bill are cost neutral in terms of public expenditure, but the following proposals are expected to lead to increased costs for the courts, the Crown Prosecution Service and the legal aid fund:

• Clauses 19 and 20, which relate to the procedure for issuing a special measures direction for a vulnerable or intimidated witness: an estimated £1 million per annum. Additionally, the prosecution cost of meeting the police and the witness to discuss the witness's needs in order to prepare for a special measures application is estimated at around £1.7 million per annum.

• Clause 23, which allows evidence to be given via a live link: an estimated £2.2 million per annum.

• Clause 26, which enables courts to admit video-recorded evidence-in-chief: an estimated £0.7 million per annum.

• Clause 27, which provides for video-recorded cross-examination to be admitted as evidence: an estimated £0.6 million per annum.

• Clause 37, which provides legal representation for the estimated forty unrepresented defendants banned each year from cross-examining, will cost less than £20,000 per annum.

• Clause 43, restrictions on reporting offences in England and Wales and Northern Ireland: an estimated £100,000 per annum.

197.     The total cost of special measures in Part II of the Bill is estimated at £6.3 million per annum. This will be contained within the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement.

198.     It is possible that there will be an increase in the number of cases which come to trial as a result of the measures in Part II of the Bill, which would lead to increased costs to the criminal justice system. But it is difficult to estimate the extent of such an increase at this stage.

199.     A training strategy for Part II of the Bill is being developed, and will impose additional costs.

EFFECTS OF THE BILL ON PUBLIC SERVICE MANPOWER

SUMMARY OF THE REGULATORY APPRAISAL

201.     All costs of this Bill will fall within the public sector.

COMMENCEMENT

202.     Apart from Clauses 61 and 63 (which will come into force on Royal Assent) the Bill will come into force in accordance with commencement orders made by the Secretary of State under clause 63(2).

EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

In my view the provisions of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Bill are compatible with the Convention rights.