§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his policy with regard to the use of juries in criminal trials. [63016]
§ Mr. BoatengWe have published two consultation papers this year about jury trials. The first paper, on use of juries in serious fraud trials, invited views on the principle of whether the system is likely to operate better and with a greater degree of public confidence if, in a small number of complex fraud trials, a traditional jury were to be replaced by another method of determining the facts. The consultation paper on determining the mode of trial considered whether defendants should be able to choose to be tried by a jury in cases which magistrates have indicated that they would be content to hear. We are currently considering the responses to these two consultation exercises.