Written question asked by Gordon Prentice (Labour) on Thursday, 11 November 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 November 2004. It was answered by Chris Leslie (Labour) on Wednesday, 17 November 2004 on behalf of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Dept for Constitutional Affairs

Question: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs, if he will seek to amend section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 to allow parallel juries to facilitate research into the reasons behind jury verdicts.

Answer: Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will seek to amend section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 to allow parallel juries to facilitate research into the reasons behind jury verdicts. [198378] Mr. Leslie: Section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act does not prohibit the use of parallel juries to facilitate research. On 11 September 2003 the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor announced that he would be publishing a consultation paper on research into real jury deliberations. We intend to publish the paper later this year.

Secondary information