§ 71. Mr. Alex Carlileasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in England and Wales are in custody awaiting trial in the Crown court; and how many have been in custody for more than four months.
§ Mr. HurdIt is estimated that about 3,500 of the 6,200 untried prisoners in custody on 30 November 1983 in prison department establishments in England and Wales had been committed for trial at the Crown court. Detailed central records, which do not distinguish prisoners awaiting trial at the Crown court from other untried prisoners, show that about 1,300 of all the 6,200 untried prisoners in custody on that date were first remanded in custody more than four months earlier; some time both before and after the first committal to custody may have been spent on bail. Most of those with these longer remand times would be awaiting trial at the Crown court.