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1124161

	registered interest
	date	01/05/2019
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Prosecutions: West Midlands
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, in how many cases did the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service decide not to charge a suspect on the grounds of (a) the evidential test and (b) the public interest test in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Edgbaston
	tabling member printed	Preet Kaur Gill
	uin	249931
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/05/2019 answer text <p>The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of suspects referred to prosecutors for a pre-charge decision and the number of decisions not to prosecute suspects following the charging decision.</p><p>When prosecutors make decisions on cases, they refer to The Code for Crown Prosecutors. The Code contains a two stage test which has to be met before a suspect can be charged; the evidential stage followed by the public interest stage. When deciding whether there is enough evidence to charge, prosecutors must consider whether evidence can be used in court and is reliable and credible, and there is no other material that might affect the sufficiency of evidence. Prosecutors must be satisfied there is enough evidence to provide a &quot;realistic prospect of conviction&quot; against each defendant. At the public interest stage the prosecutor must consider whether a prosecution is required in the public interest. A prosecution will usually take place unless the prosecutor is sure that the public interest factors tending against prosecution outweigh those tending in favour.</p><p>The table below shows the volume and percentage of decisions not to prosecute for evidential and public interest reasons for the West Midlands Area in each year from 2013/14 to 2017/18.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>2013-2014</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>2014-2015</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>2015-2016</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>2016-2017</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>2017-2018</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Volume</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>%</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Volume</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>%</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Volume</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>%</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Volume</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>%</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Volume</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>%</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>No Prosecution - Evidential</p></td><td><p>4,760</p></td><td><p>18.8%</p></td><td><p>5,396</p></td><td><p>16.1%</p></td><td><p>4,580</p></td><td><p>18.7%</p></td><td><p>4,479</p></td><td><p>17.4%</p></td><td><p>3,589</p></td><td><p>13.8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>No Prosecution - Public Interest</p></td><td><p>152</p></td><td><p>0.6%</p></td><td><p>584</p></td><td><p>1.7%</p></td><td><p>165</p></td><td><p>0.7%</p></td><td><p>164</p></td><td><p>0.6%</p></td><td><p>183</p></td><td><p>0.7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total of Evidential &amp; Public Interest</p></td><td><p>4,912</p></td><td><p>19.4%</p></td><td><p>5,980</p></td><td><p>17.8%</p></td><td><p>4,745</p></td><td><p>19.3%</p></td><td><p>4,643</p></td><td><p>18.1%</p></td><td><p>3,772</p></td><td><p>14.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total Decisions Made</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>25,360</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>33,600</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>24,542</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>25,708</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>26,026</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><p>Data Source: CPS Management Information System</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Robert Buckland question first answered 08/05/2019 08:46:56 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
	tabling member	4603 label Biography information for Preet Kaur Gill

1126592

	registered interest
	date	14/05/2019
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Prosecutions: West Midlands
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2019 to Question 249931 on Prosecutions: West Midlands, what the average time was for the CPS to reach a decision in the West Midlands in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Edgbaston
	tabling member printed	Preet Kaur Gill
	uin	254257
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>Records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), provide data showing the average time (in calendar days) from receipt of the pre-charge case to the decision to charge.</p><p> </p><p>The table below shows the average number of days from the date a charging decision is requested by the police to the date the decision to charge is taken for the West Midlands Area in each year from 2013/14 to 2017/18.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2013-2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014-2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015-2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016-2017</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017-2018</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West Midlands</p></td><td><p>10.54</p></td><td><p>10.95</p></td><td><p>11.65</p></td><td><p>14.41</p></td><td><p>17.31</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><em>Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System</em></p><p> </p><p>During this period there has been a shift in the type of pre-charge decisions referred to the CPS. For example, in the period between 2013/14 and 2017/18, there was an increase of over 26% in rape flagged pre-charge decisions referred to CPS West Midlands. Rape and serious sexual offences investigations can be highly complex in nature and typically involve the review of a large quantity of evidence resulting in an increase in the amount of time required for the CPS to come to a charging decision.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 20/05/2019 10:24:38 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
	tabling member	4603 label Biography information for Preet Kaur Gill

1143824

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	Prosecutions: West Midlands
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to (a) tackle the backlog of serious court cases in the West Midlands, (b) ensure the capacity of Crown Prosecution Service lawyers to prosecute and (c) increase the court time available for those cases.
	tabling member constituency	Dudley North
	tabling member printed	Ian Austin
	uin	285093
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The number of outstanding cases in the crown court in the West Midlands Local Criminal Justice Area, has reduced over the last 5 years by almost 50%. The published data for the West Midlands shows the number of outstanding crown court cases from end of March 2015 to end of March 2019</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Period</p></td><td><p>Number of outstanding cases</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2015</p></td><td><p>2504</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2016</p></td><td><p>2153</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2017</p></td><td><p>1777</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2018</p></td><td><p>1527</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2019</p></td><td><p>1267</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The amount of court time available is determined by the allocation of sitting days to each Region and in turn to each court. There are robust case progression systems in place to ensure that cases are ready for trial and that time estimates for the length of trial are accurate. Listing decisions are ultimately the function of the judiciary but HMCTS staff work closely to support the judiciary particularly with the management of custody cases. HMCTS is unable to answer point b in relation to CPS resources, as this would be the responsibility of the Attorney General’s Office.</p> answering member constituency Charnwood answering member printed Edward Argar question first answered 09/09/2019 14:10:14 answering member 4362 label Biography information for Edward Argar
	tabling member	1511 label Biography information for Lord Austin of Dudley