Supreme Court (Hansard, 19 April 2004)

§ Mr. Rosindell
To ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whom the Government consulted about the proposed establishment of a Supreme Court. [165610]

§ Mr. Leslie
The Government issued a consultation paper, "Constitutional Reform: a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom" on 11 July 2003. The consultation period closed on 7 November 2003 and 174 replies were received from a wide range of interested organisations and individuals. The responses can be viewed on the Department's website.

§ Mr. Rosindell
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much money has been spent on planning the Supreme Court. [165611]

§ Mr. Leslie
The spend to date on planning the Supreme Court is approximately £113,000. This consists of fees of £19,000 on the search for potential sites for the Supreme Court. A further £94,000 has been committed on the analysis and evaluation of the building options, completion of the Treasury 'Green Book' style economic appraisals and, more recently, detailed work on feasibility and outline design.

§ Mr. Rosindell
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the implications of the proposed Supreme Court are for the judicial appeals process. [165616]

§ Mr. Leslie
The UK Supreme Court will assume the current jurisdiction of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and the devolution jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Combining these jurisdictions in a new court will not affect the appeals process, but will offer improvement in the efficient management of work load through enhanced facilities and services within the court and greater flexibility for hearing cases.