What assessment he has made of the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service in Northamptonshire.

The new Crown prosecutor in Northamptonshire has been appointed to tackle concern about the performance of the CPS. The area has restructured from four to two units, mirroring the police structure in the county. That will provide the necessary resilience, we hope, to service police charging centres as well, and it has freed prosecutors to service additional courts.

Victims of crime in Kettering and Northamptonshire would like an assurance from the Minister that all cases involving persistent young offenders will be brought to court within the 71-day target set by the Government.

The average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders in the area was reduced from 112 days in April 2005 to 85 days in July 2005, which is a significant shift in a short period of time. The CPS is working closely with the magistrates court to reduce those time scales further by prioritising the listing of young offender cases as soon as they are trial ready. We must make those cases trial ready, which is why the restructuring of the CPS is important, as it will enable it to link up much more effectively with the local police.