§ Mr. GapesTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the cost of training the judiciary and the magistracy in the procedures to be adopted under the Criminal Justice Act 1991.
Mr. John M. TaylorBefore the Criminal Justice Act 1991 came into force in October 1992, all judges of the Crown court and all magistrates were trained in its requirements. Judges and recorders attended sentencing conferences on their own circuits and special sessions dedicated to 'studying the Act's provisions were incorporated in the standard refresher and induction courses run centrally by the Judicial Studies Board. Written material was also issued. In addition, a training package, funded by the Home Office, was provided for justices' clerks to enable them 'to train justices of the peace. It is not possible to quantify the cost in detail because of the local nature of most of the training, but a very rough estimate would be approximately £250,000.