§ Sir Geoffrey Finsbergasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the number of judicial reviews in which his Department has been involved since 1 March 1974; and on how many occasions the court of final recourse has found against him.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerProceedings instituted against me as Secretary of State are primarily handled by the Treasury Solicitor's Department as are most other proceedings against Ministers of the Crown and Government Departments. No departmental tally is kept except in relation to planning cases, of the number of actions brought, whether by way of judicial review or otherwise. Most planning cases involve an appeal under statute not judicial review proceedings in the technical sense. A recent assessment of Department of Environment litigation in the last two years produced the following figures:
Subject Won Lost Planning 111 71 Other 11 5 If statistics could be produced for the period from 1 March 1974 onwards, it would be only at disproportionate expense.