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Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their very important contributions to this debate. At the beginning of this discussion, I set out in some detail the reasons behind the Government's position on legal aid for children, and that legal aid should apply to the highest priority cases, which has been at the heart of our reform proposals. I produced a long list of where funding is being retained for children as a result of the application of this principle. The fact that 96 per cent of current spend on cases involving child claimants will continue reflects the importance that the Government have placed on that.