HL Deb 17 February 1966 vol 272 cc1248-9WA
VISCOUNT DILHORNE

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What, according to the most recent records, is the time that elapses between the issue of a summons or information and the hearing of a case in each of the Metropolitan Magistrates' Courts, stating the time in relation to each court for each category of proceedings for which records are available and, further, what time elapsed between the institution of such proceedings in each court and the hearing of such cases in 1964; and also, what is the time that elapses between the institution of proceedings for committal for trial in such courts and committal and the comparable time in 1964.

LORD STONHAM

The answer to the first part of the question is contained in the tables below. The information sought in the second part is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

TABLE B
INTERVAL (IN WEEKS) BETWEEN ISSUE OF SUMMONS AND HEARING IN METROPOLITAN MAGISTRATES' COURTS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 1964
Court Dangerous, Careless Driving Long Cases Other Police Informations Public Authority Informations Domestic Cases Other Private Informations and Complaints
Balham … 4 4 4 4 4 4
Bow Street … 4–5 4–5 4–5 6–7 9–10 3–4
Clerkenwell … 6–7 1–4 3 3 5 4
Greenwich … 7 4 8 6 7 6
Lambeth … 4 2 4 5 7 6
Marlborough Street 5–6 2–3 5–6 5–6 2–3 2–3
Marylebone … 5–6 3–4 3–4 3–4 4 5–6
North London … 5 4 6 4 4 4
Old Street … 4 4 4 4 5 4
South Western … 6 4 3 4 4 4
Thames … 8 3 6 8 6 7
Tower Bridge … 6–7 7 6 6 6–7 6
West London … 4 2 3 3 7 6
Woolwich … 6–7 7–8 6–7 6 7 6
Notes:
1. "Long Cases" describes summonses for indictable offences which appear likely to take half a day or more.
2. Wells Street Magistrates' Court is not listed in either table as a large proportion of its work consists of trying informations laid before other courts.
3. Table B lists only the metropolitan magistrates' courts. Since the integration of the court systems on 1st April, 1965 there are no metropolitan magistrates' courts as such. Table A gives the figures for 31st December, 1965 for the courts listed in Table B with the addition of Hampstead Magistrates' Court. The courts not listed do not transact the full range of business.