§ Lord Wigoderasked Her Majesty's Government:
Upon what facts and what assumptions has the approximate saving in public funds in the event of the Criminal Justice (Mode of Trial) Bill becoming law been calculated. [HL171]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonThe savings were measured using the flows and costs model which has been developed by the Home Office in collaboration with the Lord Chancellor's Department and Crown Prosecution Service to estimate the cost of initiatives in the criminal justice system. The following assumptions were included:
Assumption Defendants would be tried in the magistrates' courts instead of the Crown Court 12,000 Remand time avoided 9 weeks Timeous guilty plea rate 80 per cent Late guilty plea rate 10 per cent Not guilty plea rate 10 per cent Appeals against mode of trial decision 25 per cent The resulting net saving is estimated at about £105 million. This represents savings in remand time, the shorter sentences likely to be passed by the magistrates' courts than in the Crown Court and the lower cost of trying cases summarily. The background to the flows and costs model is available on the Internet at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/areas/econpf.htm.