§ Mr. Stanbrookasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the annual cost to public funds of court time and other resources wasted by the failure of defendants to answer to their bail in courts in Greater London.
§ Mr. MellorInformation on which an estimate could be based is not centrally available and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Stanbrookasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases occur daily on average within the Metropolitan police area in which recognisances have been estreated for failure to answer to bail; and what is the average penalty thus imposed.
§ Mr. MellorThe information requested is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. Stanbrookasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many defendants in cases before courts in the Metropolitan police area are reported to the police as having failed to answer to their bail on average every day on which courts are sitting.
§ Mr. MellorThe information recorded centrally indicates that in the Metropolitan police area in 1985 about 13,000 persons failed to appear at magistrates' courts having been bailed either by the police or by the court.