Glasgow Sheriff Court (Cases)

HC Deb 14 January 1964 vol 687 cc20-1W

Mr. Hannan

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide a table showing for each of the past three years, at the most recent convenient date, the total number of cases appearing on first diet at Glasgow sheriffs' courts, the number of cases outstanding at each of those dates, the number of pleas of guilty and not guilty, and, of the totals, the number of accused who waited two months, three months, four months and six months, respectively, between the date of the alleged offence and the date of first diet.

Mr. Noble

The following are the figures which are available:

Glasgow Sheriff Court: Summary Court	1961	1962	1963
Accused appearing on first diet*	16,518	17,457	19,172
Cases outstanding at 31stDecembert†	2,051	2,727	2,024
Pleas of Guilly*	15,277	15,833	17,243
Pleas of Not Guilty*	1,241	1,624	1,929
* Estimated.
† Persons awaiting trial or sentence and persons served with a summary complaint and awaiting a first diet.

The numbers of accused who waited two months, three months, four months and six months between the date of the alleged offence and the date of first diet couldnot be obtained without undue labour.

Mr. Hannan

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide a table showing for each of the past three years, at the most recent convenient date, the number of those appearing at first diet on motoring offences at Glasgow sheriffs' courts, the number of pleas of guilty and not guilty, the number of casesoutstanding at each of those dates, and, of the total, the number who waited for two months, three months, four months and six months, respectively, between the date of the alleged offence and their appearance at first diet.

Mr. Noble

The figures for those accused of offences under the Road Traffic Acts are approximately four-sevenths of those for all offences given in my Answer to the hon. Member's Question today.

Mr. Hannan

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will provide a table showing for each of the past three years at the most recent convenient date the total number of cases tried at Glasgow sheriffs' courts after a first diet plea of not guilty, and, of the total tried, the number who waited two months, three months, four months and six months, respectively, between the date of first diet and their trial;

(2) if he will provide a table showing for each of the past three years at the most recent convenient dates the numbers of those tried for motoring offences at Glasgow sheriffs' courts after a first diet plea of not guilty, and, of this total, the number who waited two months, three months, four months and six months, respectively, from the date of first diet until the date of trial.

Mr. Noble

I regret that these figures could not be made available without undue labour and I have written to the hon. Member.