§ Mr. StephenTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the extent to which magistrates are aware of, and use, their powers to hold full committal hearings in cases where there is genuine doubt as to whether the accused has a case to answer before a higher court.
Mr. John M. TaylorThe provisions in the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 in respect of committal proceedings place the onus on the accused's representative to request that the court consider a submission of no case to answer. For this reason it is not appropriate that I make any assessment of magistrates' awareness of the provisions of section 6 of the Act. The future of committal proceedings is one of many issues on which my Department has submitted views to the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice.