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Table D: Total findings of guilt at all courts and resultant custody, maximum fine imposed and disqualifications, for the offence of driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs(1), by police force area, England and Wales, 2004
		Of which:
Police force area	Total findings of guilt	Immediate custody( 2)	Maximum fine (£)	Disqualified( 3)
Avon and Somerset	2,692	145	1,200	2,599
Bedfordshire	1,028	65	800	984
Cambridgeshire	1,083	52	1,000	1,042
Cheshire	2,128	106	1,000	1,906
Cleveland	1,071	60	1,000	956
Cumbria	907	50	350	845
Derbyshire	1,874	143	2,000	1,748
Devon and Cornwall	2,560	120	2,000	2,440
Dorset	1,239	52	1,200	1,198
Durham	1,277	80	750	1,179
Essex	2,853	349	1,200	2,657
Gloucestershire	913	38	1,500	870
Greater Manchester	4,811	379	2,500	4,469
Hampshire	3,743	199	4,000	3,584
Hertfordshire	1,881	94	2,000	1,776
Humberside	1,623	112	1,500	1,512
Kent	3,010	155	2,500	2,824
Lancashire	2,706	125	2,000	2,570
Leicestershire	1,754	145	1,000	1,602
Lincolnshire	1,209	46	1,500	1,160
London, City of	169	5	1,500	164
Merseyside	2,849	261	4,500	2,529
Metropolitan Police	13,227	832	(4)5,000	12,346
Norfolk	1,240	64	1,200	1,178
Northamptonshire	922	73	2,500	878
Northumbria	2,675	183	2,000	2,491
North Yorkshire	1,131	40	2,500	1,054
Nottinghamshire	1,669	111	2,000	1,568
South Yorkshire	2,224	140	1,500	2,100
Staffordshire	1,733	124	2,500	1,628
Suffolk	1,332	89	3,000	1,191
Surrey	1,425	51	2,000	1,385
Sussex	2,368	104	2,500	2,301
Thames Valley	3,539	190	4,000	3,405
Warwickshire	845	23	1,000	817
West Mercia	1,689	103	2,000	1,593
West Midlands	5,584	423	2,000	5,229
West Yorkshire	3,897	276	3,000	3,623
Wiltshire	1,024	39	1,500	949
Dyfed-Powys	986	47	2,000	919
Gwent	1,188	69	1,500	1,108
North Wales	1,349	75	1,000	1,265
South Wales	2,811	222	2,500	2,666
(1 )Offences under the Road Traffic Act 1988 ss. 4 (1) and (2); 5 (1) and (b); 6 (4) and 7 (6). (2 )Immediate Custody = Detention and Training Order, Young Offender Institution and Unsuspended sentence of imprisonment. (3) Disqualifications given as a secondary disposal. This covers cases where a disqualification from driving was given instead of a licence endorsement. This excludes cases where a defendant was disqualified under the penalty points or “totting up” system (s35 Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988). S.35 R.T.O.A. data for specific offences at force area level are not sufficiently robust. (4) Statutory maximum fine (£5,000) was issued once in the Metropolitan police force area only. Note 1: Standard Rate maximum fine is Level 5 (£5,000). Note 2: It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings, in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. Work is underway to ensure that the magistrates courts case management system being implemented by the Ministry of Justice reports all motoring offences to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. This will enable more complete figures to be disseminated. Note 3: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Family Conciliation Services

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what plans she has (a) to promote the use of family mediation prior to the commencement of divorce proceedings and (b) to fund an expansion of family mediation services; and if she will make a statement. [140667]

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Ms Harman: The Government believe that mediation can offer considerable advantages over going to court in the settling of family disputes, especially where children are involved. To support this, the Family Mediation Helpline (0845 60 26 627) began operating in January 2006. The helpline provides information about family mediation, advice as to the likely suitability of specific cases for mediation and details of and referrals to local mediation services. To date, the helpline has received 2,900 calls, made over 1,100 referrals to mediation services and there have been around 10,000 visits made to the supporting website at www.FamilyMediationHelpline.co.uk. In order to ensure the Helpline becomes better known, publicity materials, including a family mediation DVD produced in conjunction with National Family Mediation to provide information about family mediation to members of the public, have been widely distributed to all family courts, Citizens' Advice bureaux and family solicitors.

There are 10 in-court referral to mediation schemes, where family mediators work together with the courts and often with CAFCASS to refer appropriate cases. We are undertaking judicial awareness seminars across England and Wales aimed at raising awareness among judges and magistrates.

Finally, the Legal Services Commission’s proposals to revise the family fee structure will remove the financial disincentives for solicitors to make referrals to mediation, which has historically been alleged by the mediation profession to be an obstacle to increasing mediation referrals. Under the proposals it would be in the interests of the solicitor to make a referral to mediation and also at an earlier stage.

Publicly funded family mediation is available to eligible clients who have what is defined as a family dispute. If publicly funded clients are in receipt of private law family legal advice, then they are obliged to consider the use of family mediation before they proceed to a court hearing. The Legal Services Commission is actively seeking to increase the use of mediation and encourage appropriate referrals.

At this stage, there are no plans to fund an expansion of family mediation services many of which are private businesses and run for profit.

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