The revised codes to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 incorporate several hard won victories for campaigners such as the Law Society's criminal law committee and the Criminal Law Solicitors Association.Heading the list of advances is the slimmed down caution that police officers will read to suspects from this April.

Early drafts of the new caution - which required revision to accommodate changes to the right to silence - had been harshly condemned as too confusing and complex.

While there are still some reservations about the new 37-word caution, criminal specialists view it as a substantial improvement.'It has dealt with our main complaints,' said Roger Ede, secretary to the Society's criminal law committee.

'The new caution points out that the inference can only be drawn when the person is silent on being questioned.

It also points out that if an inference is drawn it would not have the effect of strengthening the prosecution but that it might have the effect of weakening the defence.'Mr Ede also pointed out that the draft caution, by including the phrase, 'if you fail to say something now', had invited suspects to di sclose their defence immediately and without legal advice.

The word 'now' has been dropped from the new caution.The word 'case' has also been dropped.

Mr Ede maintained that in the original caution that word suggested that the police already had a case against a suspect when they should technically just have reasonable suspicion regarding a suspect and be in the process of building a case.But lawyers point out that regardless of the improved wording, as it stands the caution is only applicable to s.34 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, leaving uncovered ss.36 and 37, which also involve the right to silence.In effect, s.34 - which concerns the effect of the accused's failure to mention facts when questioned or charged - is the only right to silence section which requires the caution.

Ss.36 and 37 - which respectively concern the effect of the accused's failure or refusal to account for objects, substances or marks and, secondly, to account for a presence at a particular place - do not mention the reading of a specific caution.Instead, both sections stipulate only that inferences can only be drawn if 'the accused was told in ordinary language by the constable when making the request [regarding objects, substances, marks or presence at a particular place]...what the effect of this section would be if he failed or refused to comply with the request'.

Criminal law practitioners anticipate hours of court argument over what exactly constitutes 'ordinary language' as no example is provided in the legislation or the new PACE codes.But while controversy still surrounds the implications of the government's rolling back of the right to silence, the overall position of legal advisers in police stations appears to have improved substantially.

On a general level, it is now specifically stipulated in the new code's notes for guidance that a solicitor's only role in the police station is 'to protect and advance the legal rights of his client'.The wording represents a significant victory for the criminal law committee which had long campaigned for clarification.

The new code goes on to say that on occasions the solicitor might be required 'to give advice which has the effect of his client avoiding giving evidence which strengthens a prosecution case'.

The codes also make it clear that a solicitor has the right to intervene during a suspect interview to seek clarification of what the police are saying or to challenge what the solicitor considers to have been an improper question.More specifically, solicitors will now have the automatic right to consult the custody the record as soon as arriving at the police station.

Currently, it is left to the duty sergeant's discretion whether or not and when to make the custody record available to a solicitor.Defence solicitors and other police station representatives have maintained that requests to see records are routinely refused without meaningful consideration.

According to one lawyer: 'It has got to the point where solicitors in some areas are not even bothering to ask to see the record.'Another significant victory for defence law campaigners is a move by the Home Office to put trainees and accredited representatives on the same footing as solicitors, concerning access to police stations.

A revised section of the code stipulates that for purposes of PACE, the term 'solicitor' will mean 'a solicitor who holds a current practising certificate, a trainee solicitor, a duty solicitor representative or an accredited representative included on the register of representatives maint ained by the Legal Aid Board'.Other areas of improvement also concern access to suspects held in custody.

From April, the PACE codes will require that detainees be advised immediately of a solicitor's arrival at a police station, even if the interview has begun, and even if the client had previously declined the offer of legal advice.

Defence lawyers point out that relatives often send a solicitor to stations and that suspects who had originally declined legal advice should be given the opportunity to reconsider.Custody officers will also be obliged expressly to allow suspects to consult a specific solicitor or another solicitor from that firm before calling on the duty solicitor.

Mr Ede said the Law Society had been concerned that police officers should not be allowed to recommend firms of solicitors.

His committee acknowledges that 'some firms are more inclined to advise clients to co-operate with the police when that might not be in the client's best interests.

The police know which those firms are.'The new codes will also revise the rules regarding appropriate adults in cases involving juvenile and mentally disordered suspects.

Under the new codes, those suspects will be given the right to speak to their solicitor in the absence of the appropriate adult.1995