§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
On how many days in 2002 each Lord of Appeal in Ordinary sat for the purpose of judicial business in (a) the House of Lords and (b) the Privy Council. [HL1754]
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg)The number of days spent in judicial hearings by each Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 2002 is as follows:
Council House of Lords Privy Lord Bingham of Cornhill 64 36 Lord Slynn of Hadley 27 11 Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead 56 34 Lord Steyn 48 45 Lord Hoffmann 53 35 Lord Hope of Craighead 61 41 Lord Hutton 50 55 Lord Saville of Newdigate 0 0 Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough 71 31 Lord Millett 40 49 Lord Scott of Foscote 67 33 Lord Rodger of Earlsferry 40 55 Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe 12 18 Lord Slynn of Hadley retired on 30 September 2002 and was replaced by Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe. Lord Saville of Newdigate is the full-time chairman of the Bloody Sunday inquiry into the events in Londonderry on Sunday 30 January 1972. In 2002, as part of a continuing arrangement under the 1997 handover arrangements, Lords Hoffmann and Millett, in addition to their House of Lords and Privy Council duties, each sat for a month in the Final Court of Appeal in Hong Kong.
These figures relate to days sat for hearing appeals and petitions for leave to appeal; they exclude directions hearings and judgments. In 2002 the House of Lords sat for a total of 131 days to hear appeals and petitions for leave either as the House or in Appellate and Appeal Committees. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat for a total of 118 days to hear appeals and petitions for leave.
These statistics cannot be used to infer workload, particularly the burden of drafting opinions and in the House of Lords determining on the papers about 280 petitions for leave to appeal each year.