§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will introduce legislation to amend section 10 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 to enable judges to direct, where appropriate, that the prosecution's notice to admit facts, and a defendant's response to it, should be put before the jury; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what plans he has to allow the prosecution to present the jury with a short document briefly setting out their case before the commencement of a long fraud trial; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. JackThe Lord Chancellor's Department, the Home Office and the legal secretariat to the Law Officers issued a consultation paper on 3 December 1992, seeking684W views on a number of proposals for reducing the length of some criminal trials, particularly those involving fraud. These include a proposal that case statements should be provided to the jury, by both the prosecution and the defence. Such case statements would aim to clarify the issues involved before the commencement of a trial. The consultation paper also seeks views on the effectiveness of preparatory hearings in fraud trials and the need to provide greater assistance to the jury in understanding the case.
§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to create a general fraud offence to cover those types of fraudulent conduct which are not adequately caught by the existing scheme of substantive offences and to replace the existing common law offence of conspiracy to defraud; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. JackWe are not aware of deficiencies in the substantive criminal law in this area and as a consequence have no plans to amend it.