§ Mr. DevlinTo ask the Attorney-General what is the average number of files being presented to prosecutors in the magistrates' courts on a daily basis by Crown Prosecution Service area or region.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe information required to answer this question is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The following table sets out the total number of cases completed in the magistrates' courts in each area during the first three284W months of this year. These figures do not include committals for trial, remands (either in custody or on bail), or other applications. It would be misleading to reduce the figures to a daily average, as some courts may sit only one day a week, with a small number of cases, whilst others sit six days a week, regularly dealing with well in excess of 100 cases a day.
For the Period 1 January 1988–31 March 1988 All Areas Cases finalised Avon/Somerset 9,636 Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire 7,144 Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire 8,850 Cheshire 6,718 Derbyshire 7,486 Devon/Cornwall 7,778 Dorset/Hampshire 14,031 Essex 6,688 Gloucestershire/Wiltshire 7,199 Humberside 7,475 Kent 9,772 Lancashire/Cumbria 16,825 Leicestershire/Northamptonshire 9,812 London/Inner 47,592 London/North 26,376 London/South 18,571 Manchester 22,573 Merseyside 13,826 North Wales/Dyfed 7,913 North Yorkshire/Cleveland 8,761 Northumbria/Durham 20,009 Nottinghamshire 8,671 South Wales/Gwent 19,108 South Yorkshire 10,108 Staffordshire/Warwick 10,968 Suffolk/Norfolk 9,269 Sussex 10,435 Thames Valley 12,441 West Mercia 7,380 West Midlands 20,976 West Yorkshire 17,975 Grand Total 412,366 Average/Area 13,302