HC Deb 31 March 1993 vol 222 cc196-7W
Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of how the dates set for commercial court cases are affected by the changes in the number of judges.

Mr. John M. Taylor

Day-to-day deployment of High Court judges in the Queen's Bench Division is a matter for the Lord Chief Justice, but dates set for cases are affected by a number of factors apart from the availability of judges, including the length of case, interruptions of unplanned emergency business and cases overrunning the time estimates of the parties. In the recent announcement of plans to appoint additional High Court judges it was made clear that the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice had agreed that additional judge power would be made available to address any continuing problems in the commercial court.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what has been the number of commercial court judges in each of the last four years.

Mr. John M. Taylor

Under section 6 of the Supreme Court Act 1981, the Lord Chancellor nominates the High Court judges who may be deployed to sit in the commercial court. Apart from the commercial judge himself, who is in charge of the list and who sits full time, the others who sit there are drawn according to need and availability from that pool of nominated judges. The number in the pool fluctuates from time to time because of promotions or retirements. In January 1990 there were 11 nominees and in July 1991 there were 12. At the end of December 1992 there were 10 nominees and at the present time there are 11. Throughout the period the equivalent of either five or six nominated judges have been deployed from the pool by the Lord Chief Justice to sit in the commercial court.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will estimate the time it would take to recover the delays of cases taken from the commercial court list if there were available(a) five, (b) six and (c) seven specialist judges.

Mr. John M. Taylor

There is no fixed time within which cases before the commercial court are expected to come to trial. Dates set for cases are affected by factors beyond the number of judges sitting, including the readiness and availability of the parties and their witnesses. The commercial court operates a system of providing fixed dates and cases are generally listed for dates when parties have indicated they will be ready for trial. Though there has had to be some replanning of lists recently, in relating cases the convenience of the parties has been taken into account, particularly as many parties and their witnesses are from overseas. It is planned to make additional judge power available to the commercial court and there will be additional flexibility in the range of dates which may be offered to parties.