§ Mr. McLoughlinTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many magistrates serve the areas of(a) Matlock, (b) Ashbourne and (c) Bakewell. [31862]
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§ Mr. HoonThe areas of Matlock, Ashbourne and Bakewell are all covered by the West Derbyshire Bench, which currently has a strength of 32 magistrates.
§ Mr. McLoughlinTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many cases in the last two years which would normally have been held at(a) Matlock, (b) Ashbourne and (c) Bakewell Magistrates' Courts have been transferred to other courts. [31861]
§ Mr. HoonThe Lord Chancellor's Department does not collect statistics of this type.
The Justices' Chief Executive for the Derbyshire MCC has stated that the work arising in West Derbyshire is sufficient to justify courts sitting on two days only, Thursday and Friday. Thus from Monday to Wednesday cases must be heard elsewhere, and cases involving prisoners in custody can be heard only in Bakewell, on Friday.
§ Mr. McLoughlinTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many cases have been tried at(a) Matlock, (b) Ashbourne and (c) Bakewell Magistrates' Courts in each of the last five years. [31863]
§ Mr. HoonThe adult, criminal case load for the West Derbyshire Division, which comprises Matlock, Ashbourne and Bakewell, for the years 1993 to 1997, was 1,529; 1,782; 1,555; 1,676 and 1,780 respectively. It is not possible to break this down to the individual courthouses within the Division. It is not possible to obtain figures for the other types of case, namely youth, criminal, family and other civil work. The Justices' Chief Executive for the Derbyshire MCC will write to the hon. Member directly with the information.
§ Mr. McLoughlinTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the county towns that(a) have and (b) lack magistrates courts. [31860]
§ Mr. HoonThe Department does not hold a list of county towns to enable a complete answer to be provided to this question. A table, which has been placed in the Library, shows the location of courthouses within English shire county areas as at April 1997.