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London Weighting

Pete Wishart: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will estimate the total value of London weightings and London living allowances for her Department; and if she will make a statement. [6794]

Ms Rosie Winterton: London weighting was consolidated into basic pay on 30 September 1994, at which time it was valued at:

Inner London: £1,776

Intermediate London: £1,015

Outer London: £736.

15 Oct 2001 : Column: 1016W

A comparison between the national rate and the three London areas, based on pay range minima as at 1 August 2001, shows that on average staff in London receive more than staff in the regions as follows:

Inner London: £2,636

Intermediate London: £1,786

Outer London: £1,473.

As at 1 August 2001, the numbers of staff in the Department located in those London areas are as follows:

Inner London: 3,829

Intermediate London: 551.

15 Oct 2001 : Column: 1017W

Staff Costs

Pete Wishart: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will estimate total staff costs for her Department and its agencies by nation and region of the UK; and if she will make a statement. [6793]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The total staff costs for the Department are as follows (baselines for 2001):

LCD Headquarters and Associated Offices: £34,504,837

The Court Service: £189,310,000

The Public Guardianship Office: £9,155,000

Total: £232,969,837.

15 Oct 2001 : Column: 1018W

Civil Service

Pete Wishart: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many and what proportion of each Civil Service grade in his Department is located in each region and nation of the UK; what the average salary is for each grade; and if he will make a statement. [6796]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The number and proportion of staff in the Department is given in table 1.

Table 1: Number and percentage of staff by grade level and region (as at 1 August 2001)Lord Chancellor's Department

Region	All grades	SCS level	Level 6/7	SEO/HEO level	EO level	AO and below
	Number of staff by grade and region
London
Headquarters staff(73) in LCD, the Court Service and the Public Guardianship Office	2,950	70	286	791	701	1,102
	Court Service Circuits
South Eastern (London)(73)	625	2	9	58	198	358
Supreme Court Group(73)	1,821	4	55	186	493	1,083
South Eastern (Provincial)	1,546	0	7	136	242	1,161
Midland and Oxford	1,331	1	6	125	190	1,009
Northern	1,154	1	10	106	202	835
North Eastern	1,225	1	10	107	199	908
Western	888	1	5	74	154	654
Wales and Chester	581	1	5	72	83	420
Total	12,121	81	393	1,655	2,462	7,530
	Percentage of staff by grade level and region
London
Headquarters staff(73) in LCD, the Court Service and the Public Guardianship Office	24	86	73	48	28	15
Court Service Circuits
South Eastern (London)(73)	5	2	2	4	8	5
Supreme Court Group(73)	15	5	14	11	20	14
South Eastern (Provisional)	13	0	2	8	10	15
Midland and Oxford	11	1	2	8	8	13
Northern	10	1	3	6	8	11
North Eastern	10	1	3	6	8	12
Western	7	1	1	4	6	9
Wales and Chester	5	1	1	4	3	6
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

⁽⁷³⁾ Staff mainly based in London

The average salaries are as follows (as at 1 August 2001, following the 2001 pay review).

£

LCD HQ and associated offices		Public Guardianship Office
Pay band	Average salary	Pay range	Average salary
A	14,367	1	14,708
B	16,513	2	15,562
C	19,819	3	19,316
D	25,143	4	23,921
E	30,791	5	26,695
F	40,285	6	31,360
G	52,884	7	40,974
—	—	8	53,980

Court Service HQ

Pay span	National	Outer London	Intermed London	Inner London
1	11,939	13,712	13,872	13,805
2	11,894	12,600	13,255	13,807
3	13,876	15,012	15,518	15,672
4	17,683	18,300	19,425	19,727
5	20,096	21,058	23,214	23,350
6	23,549	24,425	24,700	25,628
7	28,898	29,548	30,429	31,588
8	36,654	—	38,981	40,629
9	42,805	—	43,522	49,639

15 Oct 2001 : Column: 1019W

Departmental Spending

Pete Wishart: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the total amount of spending by his Department was in each nation and region of the UK, in the last year for which figures are available; what proportion of his Department's total spending this constitutes; and if he will make a statement. [6797]

Mr. Wills: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Contested Cases

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) what the average delay was in hearing contested cases in (a) magistrates' courts and (b) Crown courts in each of the last three years; [7851]

(2) what the average number of weeks was from committal to start of trial for defendants pleading not guilty from 1998 to date. [7847]

Mr. Wills: I refer the right hon. Member to the table which provides the information requested.

	Average waiting time in magistrates' courts between: charge and first listingfirst listing and completion		Average waiting time in the Crown Court between committal and start of trial
	Days	Days	Weeks
1998	(74)38	(74)45	18.4
1999	38	45	18.6
2000	38	46	19.6
2001	(75)37	(75)43	(76)19.4

⁽⁷⁴⁾ In 1998, magistrates courts contested trial determined by an initial Not Guilty plea or no plea, 1999 and later years by the fact of a trial occurring.

⁽⁷⁵⁾ Survey conducted in March.

⁽⁷⁶⁾ January to June 2001.

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what percentage of (a) wholly contested and (b) partly contested cases are acquitted in (i) magistrates courts and (ii) Crown courts. [7850]

Mr. Wills: In the calendar year 2000, 31 per cent. and 41.4 per cent. of wholly contested cases were acquitted in the magistrates courts and Crown court respectively. For the same period, the percentages of partly contested cases were 13 per cent. and 21.1 per cent. respectively. The table gives a breakdown of the figures for 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Table showing the percentage of (a) wholly and (b) partly contested cases which were acquitted in (i) magistrates courts and (ii) Crown courts

	Magistrates courts			Crown courts
	1998	1999	2000	1998	1999	2000
	(a) Wholly contested cases
Contests	62,858	57,639	52,077	18,874	19,116	18,099
Acquittals	17,294	16,263	16,122	8,350	8,463	8,214
Percentage	27.5	28.2	31.0	44.2	44.3	45.4
	(b) Partly contested cases
Contests	4,298	4,262	3,882	1,641	1,338	1,378
Acquittals	396	530	506	411	344	304
Percentage	9.2	12.4	13.0	25.0	25.7	22.1
	(c) Total contests
Contests	67,156	61,901	55,959	20,515	20,454	19,477
Acquittals	17,690	16,793	16,628	8,761	8,807	8,518
Percentage	26.3	27.1	29.7	42.7	43.1	43.7

Source:

CPS Caseload Statistics

15 Oct 2001 : Column: 1020W

Either-way Cases

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many either-way cases heard in magistrates courts were contested in each year since 1999. [7849]

Mr. Wills: There were 23,022 either-way cases contested in the magistrates courts in 1999; 21,808 in 2000; and 10,471 between January and June 2001. The figures are for prosecutions by the Crown Prosecution Service only—figures for other prosecutors in the magistrates courts are not available.

Source:

CPS Caseload Statistics

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many either-way defendants were elected for trial in the Crown court in each year since 1999. [7848]

Mr. Wills: Figures specifically relating to either-way defendants are not collected. However, the table shows the number of Class 4 offence cases committed for trial to the Crown court in each year since 1999. These figures cover all triable either-way offences but do include an element of Class 4 indictable-only offences as well.

Class 4 cases committed by magistrates courts to the Crown court

	Receipts
1999	61,155
2000	58,300
2001(77)	32,752

⁽⁷⁷⁾ January to June

Note:

These figures include both triable either-way and indictable-only offences

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