§ Mr. Edward DaveyTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary. Lord Chancellor's Department what analysis his Department has made of the impact of the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service on the 475W overall time taken by the crimina1 justice system in dealing with juvenile criminal cases; and if he will make a statement. [143647]
§ Jane KennedyMy Department has not made a formal analysis of the impact of the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service on the overall time taken by the criminal justice system to deal with juvenile criminal cases. The Attorney-General has ministerial responsibility for the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service. We and Home Office Ministers are working closely with the Law Officers to ensure that practical measures are in place at local level which will reduce delay in dealing with young offenders, in particular persistent young offenders. In their joint letter of 30 November last year, to all Chief Constables, Chief Crown Prosecutors, Justices' Chief Executives, Circuit Administrators, Group Managers, Crown Court Centre Managers, Youth Offending Team Managers and Chief Probation Officers, the Lord Chancellor, Home Secretary and Attorney-General set out key items where effective local efforts by particular agencies and good joint working can make a real difference to reducing delay. The key items were identified as a result of ministerial visits to areas with a high caseload and work undertaken by consultants.