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Dept for Constitutional Affairs

Answer

Mr. Sedgemore: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Folkestone and Hythe constituency, the effects on Folkestone and Hythe of the Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [216016] Mr. Leslie: The Department for Constitutional Affairs is the Government Department responsible for upholding justice, rights and democracy. The Department's aim is to provide for effective and accessible justice for all, to ensure the rights and responsibilities of the citizen, and to modernise the law and constitution. Currently, the Department has six strategic objectives, which cover the delivery of justice, civil and administrative law, protecting the vulnerable, modernising the constitution, increasing consumer choice and working in partnership with the independent judiciary. The Department also has seven Public Service Agreement targets to help deliver its strategic objectives. Examples of the activity in 2004 to deliver these objectives include work with partners to make sure criminal trials are more efficient with the numbers of ineffective Crowncourt trials falling from 24 per cent. in 2002-03 to 16 per cent. in September 2004. The rate has reduced from 31 per cent. to 25 per cent. for the same period in the magistrates courts. The Department has also been involved in work to help people resolve their disputes in the most effective way, including pilots to test the effectiveness of court-based mediation. During 2004 there was a reduction from almost 49 per cent. to 41 per cent. in those cases that had eventually to be resolved by a hearing. Another area where pilots were used successfully was for all postal voting in four regions of England at the combined European and local elections in June 2004. Voter turnout doubled in the pilot regions compared with 1999. The range of the Department's policies and actions is wide and the statistical information relating to all of that activity is not collected on a constituency basis. Consequently, the information requested in the question cannot be provided in the form requested except at a disproportionate cost. However, statistical information about the Department's activities can be found at: http://www.dca.gov.uk/statistics/statfr.htm as well as at www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. An example of the information available on those sites is data on persistent young offenders. The average number of days from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders sentenced between August and October 2004 was 74 days in the Kent criminal justice area, which covers the constituency of Folkestone and Hythe. This compares with 121 days in the 1997 calendar year.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

431 c42W; 216016

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Government departments Policy Department for Constitutional Affairs Dorset

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk