§ Mr. Richardasked the Attorney-General how many people are currently employed in the taxation department at the Central Criminal Court; what were the comparable numbers so employed in 1970, 1971 and 1972; whether he is satisfied that bills of costs are being taxed and paid expeditiously; and whether he will make a statment.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe figures are as follows:
Year Number of staff Number of courts served June 1970 … … … 10 15 June 1971 … … … 12 19 June 1972 … … … 13 21 June 1973 … … … 15 27 The measures recently taken to strengthen the staff employed in the taxation department should result in bills being taxed more expeditiously.
§ Mr. Richardasked the Attorney-General what is the average length of time which now elapses between the completion of the trial at the Central Criminal Court, the lodgment of the bill of costs, and the final taxation of the bill; what were the comparable times for the year 1970, 1971 and 1972; and whether he will make a statement.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThat is not possible without an inordinate expenditure of time and labour to produce detailed figures. The time taken by solicitors to lodge documents for taxation has not changed significantly in86W a percentage of the retail price of milk now and for each of the past five years.
§ Mrs. FennerInformation on the average retail price of Guinness is not available from the General Index of Retail Prices, but the following table shows the average retail price of beer as a percentage of that for milk in the month of April in 1973 and in each of the previous five years:
recent years. In general, documents are lodged not more than six or seven weeks from the end of the case, but in a minority of cases—at present about 18 per cent. of the total—there are delays of between four months and a year or more.
Until the end of 1971 the average period between lodgment of the documents and taxation was about 10 days. It has since increased because of pressure of work and is at present about four months.