§ Lorna FitzsimonsTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps his Department takes to monitor the extent to which cases before the courts are adjourned; what statistics he collects on the subject; and what plans he has to limit the use of adjournments or to monitor more closely how adjournments are used. [90311]
§ Mr. VazInformation on the number of ineffective Crown Court trials is kept, but no central reports on adjournments is collected for civil cases. Applications for cases to be adjourned are varied and adjournments in both civil and criminal cases are judicial decisions in which I cannot intervene. However, since 26 April 1999, there are systems in the civil courts, which monitor adjournments of cases listed for trial and the reasons for adjournment. The whole ethos of the Civil Procedure Rules is that defended cases are managed by the court and adjournments are the exception.