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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many defendants (a) elected jury trial at the Crown Court for either way offences where magistrates had accepted jurisdiction and deemed the case to be suitable for summary trial and (b) were sent to the Crown Court for trial by magistrates declining jurisdiction over the case in each of the last three years.

Shailesh Vara

The answers to both questions are contained in the following tables:

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost was of an either way office case dealt with at the Crown Court where (a) a guilty plea was entered at the magistrates’ court and (b) a guilty plea was entered on the day of trial at the Crown Court in the latest period for which figures are available.

Shailesh Vara

There are a number of different ways costs of cases can be estimated, depending on how indirect costs are apportioned, resulting in a range of cost estimates for these cases. The latest period for which data is available is 2012/13 (up-rated to 2013/14 prices).

a) The cost of an either way guilty plea entered at the Magistrates Court is estimated to be between £210 and £270 (to the nearest £10).

b) A guilty plea entered on the day of a trial at the Crown court would result in a cracked trial. The cost of a cracked trial in the Crown court is estimated to be between £1,200 and £2,000 (to the nearest £100).

These figures do not include legal aid costs.

Sentencing Council Guidelines to the judiciary encourage early guilty pleas by setting out a scale of ‘credit’ for a guilty plea to be applied that varies from a reduction of one third in any sentence for an early plea, to 10% for a guilty plea entered at the point of trial.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of eligible (a) male and (b) female offenders were recalled on a fixed term recall instead of a standard recall (i) in 2008, (ii) in 2009, (iii) in 2010, (iv) in 2011, (v) in 2012 and (vi) since 3 December 2012.

Jeremy Wright

It has not been possible to obtain this information. I will write to the Honourable member in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many defendants charged with each offence type were sent to the Crown Court for sentence by magistrates in each of the last five years.

Shailesh Vara

The answers to both questions are contained in the following tables:

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders who were recalled to prison from home detention curfew have been subsequently released back onto home detention curfew since 3 December 2012.

Jeremy Wright

The information required to answer these questions is due for publication on 24 April 2014. I will write to my Honourable friend as soon as it is available. A copy will be placed in the House Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders have been recalled to prison and given a fixed term recall since 3 December 2012 whilst (a) on home detention curfew and (b) serving a sentence for a violent or sexual offence as listed in schedule 15 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

Jeremy Wright

The information required to answer these questions is due for publication on 24 April 2014. I will write to my Honourable friend as soon as it is available. A copy will be placed in the House Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost was of a (a) jury trial at the Crown Court for (i) either way offences sent by magistrates where their sentencing powers were not deemed sufficient, (ii) either way offences where the defendant has chosen to elect jury trial and (iii) indictable only offences and (b) trial in a magistrates’ court for (i) summary only offences and (ii) either way offences in the latest period for which figures are available.

Shailesh Vara

The information requested is not currently available in full. An analysis of criminal court costs is based on average timings from Activity Based Costing allocations models. Some of the timings in the models are based on a timing survey, conducted in a representative sample of courts. Undertaking a new survey to support an analysis of costs in a different way to that currently available could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

Some of the information is available. There are a number of different ways costs of cases can be estimated, depending on how indirect costs are apportioned. Estimates below are based on 2012/13 costs (up-rated to 2013/14 prices).

Costs at the Crown Court are analysed by offence type (criminal damage, burglary, drug offences etc) rather than by how the offence has come to be heard in the Crown Court. Estimates are based on average trial lengths – individual trials for any given case may be longer or shorter. The lower and upper trial cost estimates shown below are the weighted average of upper and lower estimates for all either way or indictable offence types.

Summary offences in the magistrates’ court have been split into motoring and non-motoring offence types.

These figures do not include legal aid costs.

Costs shown to the nearest £100.