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Queen's Counsel

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to his answer of 13 February 1998, Official Report, column 400, how many High Court judges had their applications for silk rejected at their (a) fourth and (b) more than fourth attempts. [31215]

Mr. Hoon: Of the 97 High Court Judges at present in post, none had their applications for silk rejected at their fourth and future attempts.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to his answer of 13 February 1998, Official Report, column 400, concerning the number of unsuccessful applications for silk made by an individual before taking silk; what assessment he has made of the (a) advantages and (b) disadvantages of placing a limit on the number of applications which can be made. [31082]

2 Mar 1998 : Column: 447

Mr. Hoon: My noble and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor considers that the balance of advantage is against placing a limit on the number of applications which can be made for silk. Practitioners should be able to retain the right to apply for silk as often as they wish.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the average number of applications for silk before an appointment is made. [31092]

Mr. Hoon: The average number of applications for silk made by those who were successful in the 1997 silk round was 2.57.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to his answer of 12 February 1998, Official Report, column 300, regarding consultations on the suitability of applicants for silk, if he will list those consultees who are not members of the judiciary. [31184]

Mr. Hoon: I have listed those consultees who are not members of the judiciary.




































2 Mar 1998 : Column: 448


    Chairman, Official Referees Bar Association: D. Friedman QC


    Leader, Parliamentary Bar Mess: M. Fitzgerald QC


    Chairman, Personal Injury Bar Association: M. de Navarro QC


    Chairman, Professional Negligence Bar Association: R. de Wilde QC


    Chairman, Revenue Bar Association: G. Aaronson QC


    Other senior practitioners


    Intellectual Property: S. Thorley QC


    Landlord & Tenant: K. Lewison QC


    Solicitor to the Inland Revenue: B. E. Cleave


    Environmental: V. Pugh QC and P. Vallance QC


    Immigration: N. Blake QC


    Defamation: R. Hartley QC


    Restrictive Practices and Monopolies: J. Lever QC


    Employment & Industrial Relations: J. McMullen QC


    Admiralty: R. F. Stone QC


    Bar Race Relations Committee: P. Scriven QC


    Solicitors


    The Law Society


    Council Members of the Law Society


    Law Society Equal Opportunities Committee


    Specialist Solicitors Associations


    Association of Patent Solicitors


    Association of Personal Injury Lawyers


    Association of Pension Lawyers


    Commerce & Industry Group


    Criminal Law Solicitors Association


    Educational Law Association


    Employment Lawyers Association


    Housing Law Practitioners Association


    Immigration Law Practitioners Association


    Insolvency Lawyers Association


    Intellectual Property Lawyers Association


    Legal Aid Practitioners Group


    Local Government Group


    London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association


    London Solicitors Litigation Association


    Official Referees Solicitors Association


    Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates


    Solicitors European Group


    Solicitors Family Law Association.

Court Rules and Procedures

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to his answer of 10 February 1998, Official Report, column 139, concerning changes in court rules and procedures consequent to the draft European convention concerning harmonisation of court proceedings and documentation, when he expects to finalise his plans for implementation; by what means he plans to publish them; and to whom he plans to circulate them. [31054]

Mr. Hoon: Each Member State is presently preparing the directories, glossaries and handbook which will be needed by other Member States to operate the new system. Once these are available we shall finalise our plans for implementation, and a Consultation Paper containing details of our proposals will then be published.

2 Mar 1998 : Column: 449

That paper will be circulated to those already consulted and be generally available to anyone with an interest in the proposals.

Legal Aid

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what are the Legal Aid Board's forecasts for net Legal Aid Fund expenditure over the next three years. [31276]

Mr. Hoon: Expenditure on the Legal Aid Fund 1 in 1998/99 is expected to be around £1,200m. It is not possible to give figures for 1999/2000 and beyond since expenditure will depend on the outcome of the Government's overall Comprehensive Spending Reviews.


Small Claims

Kali Mountford: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what proportion of claims awarded by small claims courts were successfully collected in each of the last three years. [31041]

Mr. Hoon: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Community Legal Service

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much expenditure the Government propose for the proposed community legal service over the next three years, in addition to existing funding for law and advice centres. [31244]

Mr. Hoon: The Lord Chancellor has announced that proposals for a Community Legal Service will be finalised by the beginning of next year, and will then be the subject of full public consultation. It is impossible to identify what expenditure the Community Legal Service will involve before proposals have been fully developed and decisions taken in the light of the response to consultation on these proposals.

Crown Courts

Mr. Baker: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many cases in 1997 which would normally be expected to be dealt with at Lewes Crown Court were (a) so dealt with, (b) transferred to Croydon Crown Court, (c) transferred to Chichester Crown Court and (d) otherwise transferred; and if he will make a statement. [31921]

Mr. Hoon: The number of cases dealt with during 1997, as requested, were (a) 1,137, (b) 89, (c) 16 and (d) 12 respectively. The cases transferred were made in order to improve the waiting times for cases in Sussex. When transferring such cases, the interests of all concerned are taken into account.

Magistrates

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many magistrates serve the areas of (a) Matlock, (b) Ashbourne and (c) Bakewell. [31862]

2 Mar 1998 : Column: 450

Mr. Hoon: The areas of Matlock, Ashbourne and Bakewell are all covered by the West Derbyshire Bench, which currently has a strength of 32 magistrates.

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many cases in the last two years which would normally have been held at (a) Matlock, (b) Ashbourne and (c) Bakewell Magistrates' Courts have been transferred to other courts. [31861]

Mr. Hoon: The Lord Chancellor's Department does not collect statistics of this type.

The Justices' Chief Executive for the Derbyshire MCC has stated that the work arising in West Derbyshire is sufficient to justify courts sitting on two days only, Thursday and Friday. Thus from Monday to Wednesday cases must be heard elsewhere, and cases involving prisoners in custody can be heard only in Bakewell, on Friday.

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many cases have been tried at (a) Matlock, (b) Ashbourne and (c) Bakewell Magistrates' Courts in each of the last five years. [31863]

Mr. Hoon: The adult, criminal case load for the West Derbyshire Division, which comprises Matlock, Ashbourne and Bakewell, for the years 1993 to 1997, was 1,529; 1,782; 1,555; 1,676 and 1,780 respectively. It is not possible to break this down to the individual courthouses within the Division. It is not possible to obtain figures for the other types of case, namely youth, criminal, family and other civil work. The Justices' Chief Executive for the Derbyshire MCC will write to the hon. Member directly with the information.

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the county towns that (a) have and (b) lack magistrates courts. [31860]

Mr. Hoon: The Department does not hold a list of county towns to enable a complete answer to be provided to this question. A table, which has been placed in the Library, shows the location of courthouses within English shire county areas as at April 1997.

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