HC Deb 04 July 2000 vol 353 cc168-9W
Mr. Kidney

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the defendants included in the pre-Narey pilot data who elected to be tried at Crown court, (a) pleaded guilty to the same or to more serious offences than those they were charged with at the time of their election, (b) pleaded guilty to fewer or to less serious offences than those with which they were charged at the time of their election and (c) pleaded not guilty and went to trial at Crown court. [128549]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The Home Office Research Development and Statistical Directorate is currently conducting an analysis of the alteration to charges in the sample and the results will be available later this year.

Mr. Kidney

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many defendants in the pre-Narey pilot data were charged with either-way offences; and of these how many(a) were directed by magistrates to be tried at Crown court, (b) elected to be tried at Crown court and (c) consented to be tried, or otherwise had their cases disposed of, by the magistrates courts. [128548]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The sample covered a total of 2,948 defendants charged with triable-either-way offences. This included 1,969 cases dealt with in the magistrates courts or in the Youth Court and 979 cases committed to the Crown court. Of the 979 defendants, 155 elected Crown court trial and 747 were directed to the Crown court. However, the number of Crown court cases in the sample was boosted in order to provide adequate numbers for analysis. This means that the committal rate is higher than the national rate. We took account of this difference when analysing the data.

Mr. Kidney

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the defendants included in the pre-Narey pilot data charged with either-way offences were from ethnic minority backgrounds; and how many such defendants(a) elected to be tried at Crown court and pleaded guilty to the same, or more serious offences, than those they were charged with at the time of their election, (b) elected to be tried at Crown court and pleaded guilty to fewer, or to less serious offences than those with which they were charged at the time of their election and (c) pleaded not guilty and went to trial at Crown court. [128550]

Mr. Charles Clarke

Information is not available on the ethnic origin of defendants in the sample.

Mr. Kidney

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the guilty plea rate among defendants included in the pre-Narey pilot data was representative of the guilty plea rate nationally. [128551]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The guilty plea rates in the sample were broadly in line with national rates.