Written question asked by Brian Sedgemore (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 February 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 5 April 2005. It was answered by Baroness Harman (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 April 2005 on behalf of the Solicitor General.

Solicitor-General

Question: To ask the Solicitor General, if she will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Maidenhead constituency, the effects on Maidenhead of the Law Officers' Department policies and actions since 2nd May 1997.

Answer: Mr. Sedgemore: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Maidenhead constituency, the effects on Maidenhead of the Law Officers' Department policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [216028] The Solicitor-General: Since 1997 the Government have embarked on a programme of reform in the criminal justice system to deliver justice for all by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent. Statistics are not maintained on a constituency level, but within Thames Valley the statutory charging scheme was adopted in September 2004. This has already had an impact on the number of cases which fall out of the system after charge with an improvement from 29.9 per cent. in 2002-03 to 25.7 per cent. in the current year to date.

Secondary information