Report praises efficient courts

The county's magistrates' courts committee has published its annual report for 2003-2004.

It shows that the general workload was up by six per cent because of work carried out by local criminal justice agencies to meet Government targets on increasing the number of offenders brought to justice.

Richmond Court House closed at the end of March and all its cases have since been transferred to the newly refurbished Northallerton Magistrates' Court.

It was given a two-year, £1.8m makeover and re-opened in January. Funding has now been secured to start the refurbishment of Scarborough court house.

The report also shows that the average times taken to deal with both serious criminal cases and persistent young offenders were less than the national average.

North Yorkshire was one of only four areas nationwide to have met the Government targets for four consecutive years.

Ninety-eight per cent of fines were collected and a high proportion of arrest warrants for people in breach of community penalties were executed within 28 days.

Feedback from court users showed they were more satisfied than in the past with court facilities and information provided.

The justice's chief executive, Paul Bradley, said: "The annual report shows that, on the whole, the Magistrates' Courts Service in North Yorkshire is continuing to deal with cases very efficiently, and the public can have confidence that court orders are being enforced rigorously.

"I wish to thank all staff and magistrates for their contribution to the standard of service which we provide."

On April 1, next year, the Magistrates' Courts Committee will hand over responsibility for the administration of magistrates courts to a new national agency, Her Majesty's Courts Service.

Mr Bradley said: "It is important as we move forward to the new organisation that we maintain, and even improve performance. We have a sound base on which to build."