§ Mr. StrawTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the number of cases coming to trial in the Crown court, acquittals and convictions in 1994, and in that part of 1995 for which figures are now available. [8479]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe question concerns a specific operational matter on which the chief executive of the Court Service is best placed to provide an answer and I have accordingly asked the chief executive to reply direct.
Letter from M. D. Huebner to Mr. Jack Straw dated 17 January 1996:
CROWN COURT TRIAL, ACQUITTAL AND CONVICTION FIGURES FOR 1994 AND 1995The Parliamentary Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department has asked me to reply to your Question about the number of cases coming to trial in the Crown Court in 1994 and 1995 and the number of acquittals and convictions in these years.The figures requested are as follows:
1994 1995 (January-November) Cases committed to the Crown Court 89,301 75,790 Defendants pleading guilty 59,827 58,650 Defendants pleading not guilty: convicted on more counts 15,206 14,879 acquitted on all counts 15,772 15,299 The total number of defendants does not equate directly to the number of cases committed to the Crown Court as a proportion of cases will have more than one defendant and as some cases are discontinued by the prosecution before trial.