§ Earl Attleeasked Her Majesty's Government:
On how many occasions, for the last 12 month period for which records are available, members of the Armed Forces have elected for trial by court martial rather than accept summary jurisdiction but no court martial was subsequently initiated by the appropriate service prosecuting authority; and, if no records are kept, why not. [HL4799]
§ Lord BachDuring the period 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001, the Naval Prosecuting Authority decided not to proceed with trial by court martial in 11 instances where personnel had elected for trial by court martial rather than accept summary justice. In the Royal Air Force, where personnel elected for trial by court martial rather than accept summary jurisdiction, all the cases referred during 2001 proceeded to court martial. The Army Prosecuting Authority has approximately 750 cases per year referred to it for a decision on whether to proceed to court martial, but its records do not separately identify those where the individual has elected for trial by court martial. Arrangements will be made to collect this information in future.
§ Earl Attleeasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many members of the Armed Forces have been awaiting court martial for: (a) up to eight weeks; (b) between eight weeks and 16 weeks; (c) between 16 and 26 weeks; and (d) between 26 weeks and 52 weeks; and, if no records are kept, why not. [HL4800]
§ Lord BachAs at 31 May 2002, the numbers of Armed Forces personnel awaiting court martial are as recorded below. The periods of time were calculated from when commanding officers received court martial papers to serve on the accused.
Naval Service
- Up to 8 weeks—15
- 8–16 weeks—46
- 16–26 weeks—15
- 26–52 weeks—8
Royal Air Force
- Up to 8 weeks—25
- 8–16 weeks—101
- 16–26 weeks—3
- 26–52 weeks—1
Army
The numbers of Army personnel awaiting court martial is not recorded in weeks. To require it to be so would incur disproportionate effort. However, the information is available in the following quarterly format:
13WA
- Up to 3 months—107
- 3–6 months—122
- 6–9 months—229
- 9–12 months—162
- 12–15 months—111
- 15–18 months—50
The Army has implemented a number of initiatives to shorten the waiting time in bringing cases to court martial. These include an improved monitoring system, prioritising investigations into more serious cases, a more flexible assize system to allow better use of court time and the establishment of an Office for Standards of Casework (Army) under a brigadier to monitor casework processes and promote improvements. The Army is fully committed to reducing further the time taken to bring cases to court.