§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many juvenile courts are held in buildings where adult offenders are prosecuted; how many are held in totally separate buildings; and what action he is taking to increase the latter.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe information sought in the first two parts of my hon. Friend's question could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. On the third 143W responsibility for initiating proposals for magistrates courts building schemes rests with the Magistrates' Courts Committee and providing authority for the petty sessional division concerned. The obligation to protect children and young persons attending at court from association with their adult counterparts is already recognised in section 31 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933; but it has not been considered necessary to require separate buildings for juvenile courts.