§ Mr. John Morrisasked the Attorney-General which parts of the United Kingdom are not now covered by the duty solicitor scheme; what is the shortfall; and what proposals there are to remedy deficiencies.
430W
24 hour duty solicitor scheme, implementation by region 12 June 1986 Region Number of courts Numbers with schemes Percentage Number of busy courts Numbers with schemes Percentage 1 London, South 16 12 75 14 11 79 2 South East 43 33 77 9 7 78 3a South (Bucks, Berks, Oxon) 28 21 75 5 4 80 3b South (Dorset, Hants) 31 31 100 8 8 100 4a South West (Devon, Cornwall, West Somerset) 38 11 29 5 4 80 4b South West (Avon, Glos, East Somer, Wiltshire) 43 22 51 11 9 82 5 South Wales 47 28 60 16 16 100 6a West Midlands (Birmingham) 34 34 100 5 5 100 6b West Midlands 15 15 100 8 8 100 7a North West (Greater Manchester) 15 15 100 15 15 100 7b North West 17 16 94 7 6 86 8a North (Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyneside) 25 25 100 7 7 100 8b North (Cleveland, Durham, North Yorks) 23 12 52 9 7 78 9a North East (North Yorks, West Yorks) 20 19 95 10 10 100 9b North East (Humberside, South Yorks) 16 15 94 5 5 100 10a East Midlands (Derby, Lincoln, Notts) 34 30 88 13 12 92 10b East Midlands (Leics, Northampton) 18 15 83 6 4 67 11a East (Cambs, Norfolk, Suffolk, Beds) 40 35 88 9 8 89 11b East (Hertford, Essex) 27 19 70 12 11 92 12a North Wales 25 23 92 4 4 100 12b Cheshire, Salop, Staffs 26 25 96 10 9 90 13 London East 13 4 31 12 4 33 14 London West 16 6 38 14 4 29 15 Merseyside 12 10 83 11 10 91 Total 622 476 78 225 188 85
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe information on the coverage of the 24-hour duty solicitor scheme currently available from the Law Society is given in the table.
The Law Society is now confident that it is making substantial progress in overcoming the initial problems and is considering how best to achieve complete coverage.
Similar information on the magistrates' courts duty solicitor scheme cannot be assembled in the time available, but I will write to the right hon. and learned Gentleman.