§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has as to the total numbers of jurors who have been vetted against police records, the number that have failed selection because of the vetting procedure and the reasons why they failed selection.
§ Mr. John PattenNo records are at present kept centrally of checks against records of previous convictions carried out by the police for the purpose of ascertaining whether a juror is disqualified from serving.
There are exceptional circumstances in which, in addition, checks may be made of the records of police special branches and inquiries may be made of the security services. Such further checks may only be made with the personal authority of my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General. The procedures to be followed are set out in the Attorney-General's guidelines, which were published in August 1980 and amended in February 1986.
I understand from my right hon. and learned Friend that during the 12 months ending 14 June 1988 he authorised checks in four such cases. In two cases, no juror was either required to stand by for the Crown or challenged; in each of the remaining two cases, two jurors were peremptorily challenged by the defence; and in one of those cases one juror was required to stand by for the Crown. My right hon. and learned Friend is not able to say whether any of the four jurors peremptorily challenged was so challenged as a result of information obtained during the course of the checks and supplied to the defence by the Crown.
Records are not maintained of the total number of jurors in respect of whom checks authorised by my right hon. and learned Friend are made.