To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimates he has as to the annual number of court hours which are lost as a result of the non-delivery or lat delivery of prisoners to court; and if he will make a statement as to the estimated cost.

The information requested is not routinely collected. Where defendants do not appear it will often be possible to rearrange business so that court time is not lost. There is insufficient information on which to base an estimate of cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent examination he has made of the reasons for delays in courts trying cases down for hearing; and if he will make a statement.

We are carrying out a survey of the reasons for adjournments in cases before magistrates courts. A range of courts will take part in the survey in the last week in April.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimates he has to the annual number of (a) magistrates court, (b) Crown court and central criminal court cases which are delayed or postponed as a result of the non-delivery of the defendant to the court by the police or prison service; and if he will make a statement.

This information is not routinely collected. We expect to obtain information relating to cases postponed in a sample of magistrates courts from our forthcoming survey of reasons for adjournments.