§ Lord Rawlinson of Ewellasked Her Majesty's Government:
On how many days or part days did (a) the Attorney-General, and (b) the Solicitor-General appear in court as counsel for the Crown or for a Government department or for the Government itself (1) in a court within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom; (2) in a court within any other jurisdiction, during the years 1971–1991 inclusive; setting out the numbers of appearances year by year in a table.
§ The Lord ChancellorThe full information sought by the noble and learned Lord is not readily available and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Between June 1987 and December 1989 the Attorney-General appeared in one case before a court within the jurisdiction, in one case before the European Commission of Human Rights, in one case before the European Court of Human Rights and in two cases before the European Court of Justice. In the same period the Solicitor-General appeared in one case before the Divisional Court, in one case before the Court of Appeal, in two cases before the House of Lords, in one case before the European Court of Human Rights and in two cases before the European Court of Justice. I hope to write to the noble and learned Lord in due course specifying the number of days or part days involved.
In 1990 the Solicitor-General appeared before the courts within the jurisdiction for a total of nine days and made no appearances before such courts in 1991. He also appeared before the European Court of 84WA Justice for one day in 1990 and for one day in 1991. The Attorney-General did not appear in any court from the end of 1989 until the end of 1991. This year the Attorney-General has appeared for seven days before courts within the juridiction and for one day before the European Court of Justice.