To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress the Government has made in meeting its target to halve the time between arrest and sentence in the youth courts, compared with 1997; and what the average time was between (a) arrest and sentence, (b) arrest and first appearance in court and (c) conviction and sentence in each of the last three years. [120303]

In 1997 the Government pledged to halve the time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders from 142 days to 71 days. In 2000 it averaged 93 days, in 2001 76 days and in 2002 68 days. The Pledge has now been met for seven consecutive quarters.We do not break down the Pledge performance data into arrest to first appearance, and conviction to sentence, but the Department for Constitutional Affairs does have average figures for young defendants, persistent or otherwise, whose cases are completed in the magistrates courts. These are, in days: