Prisons: Circuit Judges

Baroness Corston
asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many judges went on circuit for the last year for which figures are available; and, of these, how many visited a women's prison while on circuit. [HL1658]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)
Eighty puisne judges of the High Court Judge sat on circuit during 2007, the breakdown between the three divisions being as follows:

Chancery Division x 2;

Family Division x 18; and

Queen's Bench Division x 60.

In addition, two of the Heads of Division—the President of the Queen's Bench Division and the Chancellor of the High Court—also sat on circuit during the same period.

Records are not kept (by the Judiciary or the Judicial Office) of visits undertaken by individual judges to prisons (male or female).