§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs (1) who was consulted about the proposal to remove Hampshire from the Western Circuit; when the decision will be made; and if he will make a statement; [129035]
(2) what representations he has received on the proposal to remove Hampshire from the Western Circuit; [129043]
(3) what factors underlay the proposal to (a) remove Hampshire from the Western Circuit and (b) include it in a South Eastern tier; and if he will make a statement. [129044]
1034W
§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs (1) what assessment he has made of the impact on the Western Circuit of his proposal to move Winchester Crown Court into the South Eastern Circuit; [129017]
(2) what assessment he has made of the impact of his proposal to move Winchester Crown Court into the South Eastern Circuit on the administration of justice in the Salisbury Constituency; [129018]
(3) what representations he has received from the judiciary about his proposal to remove Winchester Crown Court into the South Eastern Circuit; [129019]
(4) what consultation he proposes to hold with hon. Members for constituencies in (a) Wiltshire and (b) Dorset about his proposals to remove Winchester Crown Court from the Western to the South Eastern Circuit; [129020]
(5) where people from the Salisbury Constituency charged with (a) murder, (b) manslaughter and (c) attempted murder will be sent for trial if Winchester Crown Court is removed to the South Eastern Circuit. [129021]
§ Mr. LeslieThe Courts Bill, which is currently before Parliament, makes provisions that will allow the Government to replace the existing 42 magistrates courts committees and the Court Service with a single executive agency, responsible for the administration of all the courts below the House of Lords. No date has yet been set for the establishment of the new unified courts agency although it will not be before April 2005.
The unified courts agency will be an entirely new organisation, twice the size of either of the two services that will be subsumed within it. The Secretary of State and I have given close consideration to the regional management structure for the agency and what the boundaries of those regions should be. In this context, we paid careful attention to the "Modernising Government" White Paper of March 1999. This sets out the Government's policy that, wherever possible, the boundaries of government departments and public bodies at regional level should coincide with those of the Government Offices for the Regions. This commitment was repeated in the White Paper "Your Region, Your Choice" in May 2002.
Since May 2003 the Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), officials from the Department for Constitutional Affairs and I have held meetings with the senior judiciary, representatives of the General Council of the Bar, and judges and barristers from the Western Circuit to discuss the structure of the new agency and in particular how the area currently covered by the Western Circuit should fit within that. Written submissions from judges and barristers have also been received on the subject.
On 31 July 2003, the Secretary of State and I announced our decision that, at local level, the unified courts agency would have 42 management units coterminous with local government boundaries. This is in line with other criminal justice agencies such as the Police Authorities, Crown Prosecution Service and the Probation Service. There will also be seven regions.
1035WThe boundaries of these regions will be coterminous with those of the Government Offices for the Regions, with two exceptions. The Secretary of State and I have decided that the Cheshire management unit should be linked with the Wales region for the time being but that we want to review this in 2006–07 as part of a general post implementation review of the agency's working arrangements. We have asked for further work to be undertaken before deciding whether to align the Hampshire unit with the South East or South West regions. This work will cover what the impact of including Hampshire within the South East region would be on the administration of justice throughout the current Western Circuit and in particular whether there would be a need to change the way in which cases are handled in Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire. This will inform our decision, which we intend to take by 31 October 2003. I would be happy to discuss this matter with hon. Members representing constituencies in those counties.