HC Deb 11 February 1999 vol 325 cc315-6W
Mr. Maclean

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a regional breakdown of courts' progress in meeting the target of halving the number of days between arrest and sentencing of persistent young offenders. [67727]

Mr. Boateng

In the past, information on the length of time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offender cases has not been routinely collected. We have undertaken two special exercises to monitor performance nationally against the pledge on persistent young offenders and we have also put in place new arrangements to enable this information to be collected on a regular basis through the existing Time Interval Survey. The first special exercise showed the time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders was 142 days in 1996. The second showed an improvement to 138 days between May and December 1997. It is not possible from these data to provide a statistically reliable measure of progress towards the pledge at regional level. A third special exercise, which should produce the 1998 figures in the spring, will, however, allow an estimate to be made on the progress of individual regions in 1997–98.

The new arrangements for the regular collection of data on the time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders and all other young offenders were implemented in October 1998 after piloting. The first complete data from the new Time Interval Survey should be available by late 1999. These will allow for a breakdown of performance by area.

Under guidance issued by the Home Secretary in October 1998, a half of all cases involving persistent young offenders should be dealt with in under 71 days by April this year. The Government fully expect to fulfil its pledge during this parliament.

Mr. Maclean

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the latest available figure for the number of days between arrest and sentencing for(a) persistent young offenders and (b) all offenders dealt with in the youth courts. [67726]

Mr. Boateng

The Government are committed to halving the average time taken to deal with persistent young offenders from the 142 days it took in 1996. Figures for 1997 show that between May and December 1997 the average dropped to 138. These figures cover a considerable period when there were very few fast tracking schemes; at the time of the election there were only 8 in the whole of England and Wales. There are now around 150 covering almost half of all court areas.

Under guidance published by the Home Secretary in October 1998, a half of all cases involving persistent young offenders should be dealt with in under 71 days by April this year.

The Government fully expect to fulfil their pledge during this Parliament.

Information about the average time for arrest to sentence for all young offenders in the youth court has not been collected nationally in the past. New arrangements to do so were introduced in October last year but are unlikely to produce reliable data until the end of this year at the earliest. The magistrates' courts Time Interval Survey collects information on cases completed in one week samples each February, June and October, covering the date of charge or summons until the date of completion. The latest available results for the Youth Court come from the June 1998 survey, and reports an average of 81 days, compared with 92 days in June 1997.