---

Court Facilities

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many times since 1992 witnesses have given evidence in court (a) behind screens and (b) with the use of voice distorters. [34883]

Mr. Streeter: The question concerns a specific operational matter on which the chief executive of the Court Service is best placed to provide an answer. I have accordingly asked the chief executive to reply direct.

Letter from Michael Huebner to Mr. Jim Cunningham, dated 4 July 1996:

The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, has asked me to reply to your Question about witnesses and the use of screens and voice distorters in court since 1992.
These figures are not held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Companies (Payments)

Mrs. Roche: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the cost to public funds of the consultation that he has undertaken on whether large companies should state their payment practice in their accounts. [35640]

Mr. Page: As the consultation was launched only on 27 June, it is impossible to judge at this stage what the total cost to public funds will be. However, the consultative document itself was produced in-house to keep production costs down. We estimate the printing and reprographic costs for the nearly 2,000 copies issued so far to be approximately £1,800. The only other significant item of expenditure to date has been the cost of mailing the document to consultees.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Remand Prisoners

Ms Corston: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the average time that prisoners are held on remand in custody awaiting trial. [34516]

Mr. Streeter: For proceedings in the magistrates courts it is possible to give only the average number of whole weeks spent in custody between first listing and completion of the case, which in 1995 was seven weeks. That figure includes those cases which were subsequently committed to the Crown court, where the average waiting time between committal and start of trial in 1995-96 was 11.4 weeks.

Youth Courts

Mr. Michael: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the average time an indictable offence took (a) from offence to charge or summons, (b) from charge or summons to first listing, (c) from first listing to completion and (d) from offence to completion for cases proceeding through youth courts for (i) England and Wales, (ii) each region in England and Wales and (iii) each police force area in the latest year for which figures are available. [35622]

4 Jul 1996 : Column: 497

Mr. Streeter: The latest full year for which figures are available is 1995. The information requested is contained in the table. The table includes information on all indictable offences--both indictable only and triable either way. The source of the figures is the magistrates courts time intervals survey. This survey collects information on all defendants in indictable cases in one sample week of February, June and October each year.

4 Jul 1996 : Column: 498

Caution needs to be exercised when comparing figures from different areas because sampling error in the figures could make any conclusions invalid. This is especially true for areas where the sample size was less than 100. The figure for areas with a sample size of less than 25 have been omitted as the level of sampling error makes them unreliable and potentially misleading.

4 Jul 1996 : Column: 497

Average time taken for indicatable offences heard in the youth court by stage of proceedings and by standard region and police force area, 1995, England and Wales

Average number of days	Offence to charge or summons	Charge or summons to first listing	First listing to completion	Offence to completion
England and Wales	40	27	67	134
English regions and Wales
North England	31	23	62	116
North West England	37	27	66	129
Yorkshire and Humberside	29	23	69	122
East Midlands	31	25	60	116
West Midlands	33	27	74	134
East Anglia	41	31	51	123	Sample size less than 100
Greater London	58	27	74	160
South East (except London)	55	30	63	148
South West	41	29	59	129
Wales	28	28	68	123
Police force area
Avon and Somerset	61	24	48	134	Sample size less than 100
Bedfordshire	*	*	*	*	Sample size less than 25
Cambridgeshire	*	*	*	*	Sample size less than 25
Cheshire	39	28	69	135	Sample size less than 100
Cleveland	27	24	70	122	Sample size less than 100
Cumbria	46	25	32	103	Sample size less than 100
Derbyshire	38	30	55	122	Sample size less than 100
Devon and Cornwall	35	31	47	113	Sample size less than 100
Dorset	*	*	*	*	Sample size less than 25
Durham	42	21	55	118	Sample size less than 100
Dyfed-Powys	*	*	*	*	Sample size less than 25
Essex	39	30	44	114	Sample size less than 100
Gloucestershire	37	24	72	134	Sample size less than 100
Greater Manchester	25	24	62	112
Gwent	36	24	49	110	Sample size less than 100
Hampshire	67	28	63	159
Hertfordshire	46	38	62	145	Sample size less than 100
Humberside	40	13	67	120	Sample size less than 100
Kent	72	30	63	164	Sample size less than 100
Lancashire	51	28	62	140	Sample size less than 100
Leicestershire	33	22	92	148	Sample size less than 100
Lincolnshire	38	28	44	110	Sample size less than 100
Merseyside	45	29	74	148
Metropolitan	58	27	74	160
Norfolk	35	27	54	117	Sample size less than 100
North Wales	14	28	74	116	Sample size less than 100
North Yorkshire	46	27	40	113	Sample size less than 100
Northamptonshire	*	*	*	*	Sample size less than 25
Northumbria	24	23	67	114
Nottinghamshire	21	23	53	97
South Wales	30	27	70	127
South Yorkshire	35	28	66	129	Sample size less than 100
Staffordshire	36	27	71	134
Suffolk	*	*	*	*	Sample size less than 25
Surrey	57	35	64	156	Sample size less than 100
Sussex	45	28	81	154	Sample size less than 100
Thames Valley	40	27	62	129	Sample size less than 100
Warwickshire	29	22	55	106	Sample size less than 100
West Mercia	32	31	44	107	Sample size less than 100
West Midlands	33	28	110	172
West Yorkshire	18	23	79	119
Wiltshire	29	35	57	122	Sample size less than 100

4 Jul 1996 : Column: 499

Crown Courts

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many Crown court centres have (a) separate waiting areas and (b) separate eating facilities for victims and their families; and what plans he has to increase the number of Crown court centres with these facilities. [34880]

Mr. Streeter: The question concerns a specific operational matter on which the chief executive of the Court Service is best placed to provide an answer and I have accordingly asked the chief executive to reply direct.

Letter from Michael Huebner to Mr. Jim Cunningham, dated 4 July 1996:

The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, has asked me to reply to your Question about the provision of separate waiting and eating facilities in Crown Courts for victims and their families.
Of the 92 Crown Court centres, 79 provide separate witness and/or special witness waiting rooms. These are specifically for the use of victims appearing as prosecution witnesses. No Crown Court has designated eating facilities for victims or their families and there are currently no plans to provide them.
It would be difficult to increase the number of existing Crown Courts with permanent separate waiting facilities because of the physical constraints of the buildings themselves. However, all new Crown and Combined Courts include an area to give privacy to victims/prosecution witnesses while waiting to give evidence. One waiting area is provided for each criminal courtroom. Where there are no permanent separate waiting areas, special arrangements can be made for victims and their families should the need arise.

Legal Aid

Sir Ivan Lawrence: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when the Lord Chancellor intends to publish his conclusions on the reform of the legal aid system in England and Wales. [35650]

Mr. Streeter: The Lord Chancellor has today published a White Paper, "Striking the Balance", which sets out the Government's policy for the reform of legal aid in England and Wales. Copies of the White Paper are available in the Vote Office.

---