§ Mr. David AtkinsonTo ask the the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement of progress in the establishment of an electronic list distribution system to reduce delay in bringing cases to the courts.
Mr. John M. TaylorOver a number of years, the Lord Chancellor's Department has participated in several initiatives to test the feasibility of distributing the Crown court lists electronically. Recent experiments have aimed at establishing the technical effectiveness of such a system, whether it could meet users' needs and whether there would be widespread demand.
At present the lists are being transmitted from the Central Criminal Court to a number of barristers' chambers via the legal information exchange system. Plans are in hand to extend this experimental system during 1993.