§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many magistrates court trials scheduled to be heard on a particular day in England and Wales between January and July had to be rescheduled because the prosecution police witness failed to attend. [10956]
§ Mr. WillsInformation is not collected nationally on adjournments and rescheduling, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, in a pilot study run in nine of the 42 magistrates courts committee areas between 2 April and 29 June 2001, 6,267 trials were listed. Of those, 1,176 trials were ineffective for a variety of reasons, 81 of which were as a result of a prosecution police witness failing to attend. An ineffective trial is defined as
On the trial date expected progress is not made due to action or inaction by one or more of the prosecution, the defence or the court, and a further listing for trial is required".
§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many trials in magistrates courts in England and Wales were rescheduled from the original date between January and July. [10955]
§ Mr. WillsInformation is not collected on adjournments and rescheduling, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many trials were heard by magistrates courts in England and Wales between January and July. [10957]
§ Mr. WillsIn the period between January 2001 and June 2001 a total of 27,444 cases brought by the Crown Prosecution Service were contested in the magistrates courts, compared to 29,030 in the same period in 2000 and 31,857 in 1999. A contest is defined as
'a case that has proceeded to trial against a defendant on at least one either-way or summary charge'.The figure includes both cases in which a defendant has entered some guilty pleas to charges before the court and no guilty pleas.1
No figure is available for cases prosecuted by other agencies.
1Source:
CPS Caseload Statistics