§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs (1) what the average cost to public funds of a judicial review case was in each of the last three years; [156799]
(2) what the (a) average and (b) total cost was to public funds of judicial review cases relating to decisions under section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill 2002 in 2003. [156801]
§ Mr. LeslieThe Administrative Court Office does not identify unit costs for judicial review claims.
It is not responsible for funding for "legal aid" for judicial review—that is the responsibility of the Legal Services Commission—and details of costs incurred by public authorities responding to claims are not kept by the Administrative Court Office.
The information requested therefore could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the average length to final determination was of a judicial review case in each of the last three years. [156800]
§ Mr. LeslieThe average waiting times for civil judicial review (issued after October 2000 when the new judicial review procedure was introduced) for the last three calendar years are as follows:
- 2001–20.9 weeks
- 2002–31.3 weeks
- 2003–31.1 weeks
The average waiting times include the periods in which cases were stood out of the list pending determination of test cases and any subsequent appeals in those matters.
§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the average length of judicial review cases relating to decisions under section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 was in 2003. [156809]
§ Mr. LeslieIn 2003 the average waiting time for such cases was 19.9 weeks including the time cases were 'stood out' pending decisions in lead cases and any subsequent appeals in those lead cases.