To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what progress is being made on implementing his policy on community justice; and if he will make a statement.

The Government want to work towards making community justice the norm. Therefore, we have set up 13 community justice courts across England and Wales with a view to testing the concept fully before extending out to all courts.

We are taking the lessons learned from these projects and will be working during 2008 to help the magistrates courts improve engagement and involvement with the communities they serve.