§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proposals he has made to members of the Council of Europe to increase the budget of the European Court of Human Rights; how many cases are before the court; how many such cases were registered(a) before and (b) after the establishment of the full-time court; what his estimate is of the average time taken for the court to reach a decision; and what proposals he has to improve the procedures of the court. [139082]
§ Mr. VazIt is for the President of the European Court of Human Rights to propose any increases he considers necessary in the Court's budget, and for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) to propose how these should be accommodated in the CoE Ordinary Budget. On 1 September 2000, there were 15,107344W registered applications pending before the Court. About 3,400 of these were registered before the new Court came into operation in November 1998. At present, the Court's objective is that, from the time of application, cases should be decided within three years. The Court has a longer term objective of reducing this to two years. The Court President has made a number of proposals to improve the efficiency and output of the Court, for example with new IT equipment and additional staff. Member states will shortly be asked to consider these proposals and their budgetary implications.