§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average length of time(a) before cases come to court and (b) for which remand prisoners are held before trial (i) in the Nottingham area and (ii) in England and Wales as a whole.
§ Mr. John PattenNational estimates of the time taken to process criminal cases in magistrates courts are published regularly in Home Office statistical bulletins—the most recent being issue 2/89 of January 1989. The table also gives the estimated number of days from offence to the date of first listing at magistrates court for Nottingham.
Information is not available centrally on the average time spent on remand in individual establishments. The information available relates to the average time spent on remand in all prison service establishments by untried and convicted unsentenced prisoners and is published annually in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales" (table 2.1 of the latest issue for 1987, Cm 547). Copies of both the bulletin and the Command Paper are in the Library.
Time between offence and first listing at magistrates court Days England and Wales Nottingham Indictable offences 1987 63 77 Summary non-motoring offences June 1987 103 93 Summary motoring offences June 1987 117 134