HC Deb 10 February 1989 vol 146 cc823-4W
Ms. Harman

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to seek to ensure that all cases relating to children in the juvenile court are heard on consecutive days.

Mr. John Patten

The date to which the hearing of a case should be adjourned is for the court to decide with the advice of its clerk, having regard to the availability of the magistrates and to other factors. Often it would not be practicable to resume a hearing on the following day.

Ms. Harman

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many cases under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969, which were concluded in the inner London juvenile court during 1987 and 1988, were completed within a time scale of eight weeks;

(2) how many cases under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 and similar proceedings, which were concluded in the inner London juvenile court during 1987 and 1988, and which involved final hearings of more than one day in length;

(3) how many cases under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 and similar proceedings, which were concluded in the Inner London juvenile court during 1987 and 1988, and which involved final hearings of more than one day in length, were heard on consecutive days;

(4) how many cases under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 and similar proceedings, which were concluded in the Inner London juvenile court during 1987 and 1988, and which involved final hearings of more than one day in length, involved hearings in respect of which more than 14 days elapsed between the first day of the hearing and the last.

Mr. John Patten

Information is not available centrally on the time taken for cases under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969; to obtain such information from individual courts would involve disproportionate cost.

Ms. Harman

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 and similar proceedings were concluded in the Inner London juvenile court during 1987 and 1988.

Mr. John Patten

Records available to my Department, which may be incomplete, show 684 such proceedings in 1987. Data for 1988 are not yet available.

Ms. Harman

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has undertaken of the types of proceeding most appropriately undertaken in(a) the domestic magistrates court and (b) the juvenile court.

Mr. John Patten

The Government's general intention is that all family proceedings (including care proceedings) heard in magistrates courts under the provision of the Children Bill should be heard in the domestic court.