Written question asked by Lord Khan of Tooting (Labour) on Thursday, 17 February 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 February 2011. It was answered by Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative) on Tuesday, 1 March 2011 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

HM Courts Service

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the budget was for (a) HM Courts Service and (b) the Tribunals Service and its predecessor was in (i) 1997-98 and (ii) 2010-11.

Answer: The information requested is as follows:The budget for Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS):"(i) HMCS was formed on 1 April 2005 by the merger of the Court Service and 42 Magistrates Areas. Following the creation of HMCS the accounting records of the Court Service were archived and accessing them to provide the information back to 1997 would be disproportionately expensive for the Department. Information for magistrates courts is not recorded centrally as it is held by individual local authorities and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost;""(ii) £874.5 million 2010-11."The budget for Tribunals Service:"(i) The Tribunals Service was created on 1 April 2006 through the bringing together of 26 previously separate agencies or similar bodies. As such, we cannot provide figures for 1997-98. To do so would incur disproportionate cost;""(ii) £247.1 million in 2010-11."

Secondary information