§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average overall cost to714W the Criminal Justice System in 2000–01 of each person (a) proceeded against, (b) found guilty or admitting guilt and (c) found not guilty. [158932]
§ Mr. Charles Clarke[holding answer 26 April 2001]: The figures for 2000–01 are expected to be available in the autumn. The most recently available figures are for 1999–2000. In that year, the expenditure on the Criminal Justice System was £12.1 million and 1.9 million offenders were proceeded against. The average cost per person proceeded against is £6,400.
The specific costs of cases where there was a finding of guilt, and cases where there was no finding of guilt are not known, and it is thus not possible to provide answers for (b) and (c). Of the 1.9 million proceedings, 1.7 million ended in a finding of guilt and there was no finding of guilt in the remaining 0.2 million proceedings.
Work is proceeding on the development of an alternative measure of value for money in the Criminal Justice System.