§ 47. Mr. Dubsasked the Attorney-General if he is now in a position to make a statement on jury vetting.
§ The Attorney-GeneralNo. I have only recently received the judgment of the Court of Appeal for which I was waiting and have not yet been able to conclude my consultations. I am most anxious to give the House art answer on this matter, and shall do so as soon as possible.
§ Mr. David Youngasked the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on progress in preparing proposals to regulate the vetting of juries; and if he will publish them in the form of a White or Green Paper for discussion by the House before reaching a final conclusion on changes in the rules.
§ The Attorney-GeneralI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave in the House today to the hon. Member for Battersea, South (Mr. Dubs) on the stage which I have reached in my consideration of this matter. I shall, in due course, make a statement to the House about my instructions for the Director of Public Prosecutions on it. It is not otherwise in my power to deal with it. It is not intended to publish either a White Paper or a Green Paper on the subject.
§ Mr. John Morrisasked the Attorney-General how many cases of jury vetting there have been in each year since 1948, or the latest year for which figures are 405W available, including the area covered by the Northamptonshire police.
§ The Attorney-GeneralNo records exist of the cases in which jury checks have been carried out prior to September 1975. Since then the Director of Public Prosecutions has kept records of cases in which such checks have been made on his or my authority. I append the annual figures below.
Year No. of Checks 1975 (Sept. to Dec.) 4 1976 10 1977 6 1978 8 1979 4 1980 (Jan. to 24 Mar.) 0
§ Mr. John Morrisasked the Attorney-General how many cases of jury vetting there have been in the area covered by the Northamptonshire police since 10 December 1979; and on how many he has been personally consulted.
The Attorney-General: I have no information about the number of checks made by the Northamptonshire police on their own initiative before their practice of making such checks was terminated. No checks have been carried out at any time in the area of that force on the Director's or my authority.