@prefix rdf: . @prefix xsd: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix skos: . @prefix rdfs: . @prefix api: . @prefix parl: . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Attorney General: Working Hours" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, what the contracted hours are for the highest paid member of staff in the (a) Serious Fraud Office, (b) Government Legal Department, (c) Crown Prosecution Service and (d) HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "Hornsey and Wood Green" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Catherine West" ; parl:uin "188197" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-05"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Crown Prosecution Service: Staff" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, what the change has been in the number of (a) full-time and (b) part-time personnel employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the last two years." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "East Londonderry" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Mr Gregory Campbell" ; parl:uin "191883" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-15"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Domestic Abuse: Restraining Orders" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, whether he has had any discussions with the CPS on introducing tighter restrictions on the circumstances in which a restraining order may be varied to prevent the situation whereby a perpetrator of domestic abuse is granted a variation that permits them to work within a one mile radius from their victim." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "Harlow" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Robert Halfon" ; parl:uin "191386" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-14"^^xsd:dateTime . rdfs:label "Biography information for Jon Trickett" . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Attorney General: Energy" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, what was the cost was of (a) electricity and (b) natural gas used by (i) the Attorney General's Office, (ii) the Crown Prosecution Service, (iii) the Government Legal Department and (iv) the Serious Fraud Office in each of the last three years for which figures are available." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Stuart C. McDonald" ; parl:uin "188846" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-06"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answerText "

All decisions to prosecute made by the Crown Prosecution Service must meet the Full Code Test set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The Code makes it clear that there is a balance to be struck between the public interest in diverting a defendant with significant mental illness such as dementia from the criminal justice system and other public interest factors in favour of prosecution, including the need to safeguard the public.

The eighth edition of the Code for Crown Prosecutors was published in October 2018. Prosecutors are asked to “have regard to whether the suspect is, or was at the time of the offence, affected by any significant mental or physical ill health or disability, as in some circumstances this may mean that it is less likely that a prosecution is required. However, prosecutors will also need to consider how serious the offence was, whether the suspect is likely to re-offend and the need to safeguard the public or those providing care to such persons.”

The existing CPS legal guidance on prosecuting ‘Mentally Disordered Offenders’ is currently being revised to include specific guidance on prosecuting cases where the suspect suffers from a condition such as dementia. This will be published for public consultation in 2019.

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-28"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-28T09:36:50.033Z"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answerText "

Wherever possible the Attorney General’s Office and the Law Officers Departments (the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office, The Government Legal Department and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate) let contracts over £10,000 using call-off contracts from frameworks procured by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS). These frameworks include provision for payments to sub-contractors within 30 days of receipt of undisputed invoice.

Central records are not held for procurements partially, or fully, managed outside the procurement service. To confirm that these contracts include provisions for prompt payment of sub-contractor invoices would require a manual check of all procurement records, which would incur a disproportionate cost.

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-23"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-23T14:12:04.993Z"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answerText "

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the recent falls in the volume of suspects charged, prosecuted and convicted of rape. The 2017-18 Violence Against Women and Girls report highlighted a 9.1% fall in referrals of rape flagged cases from the police to the CPS and work is being undertaken to understand the reasons behind this trend. Prosecutors are increasingly using the process of Early Investigative Advice to work with the police early to see what can be done to strengthen the prosecution when it is needed.

Rape investigations are becoming increasingly complex due to a number of factors, including the growth in relevant digital communications evidence. To address the increasing complexity of cases the CPS have introduced new guidance to help police and prosecutors with reasonable lines of inquiry and communications evidence. There has also been a significant recruitment exercise, which was completed to ensure that RASSO units were equipped to meet the substantial increase in the volume of case referrals from the police. Between July 2015 and October 2018, the number of specialist prosecutors in RASSO units rose by 52% from 138 to 210, with overall staffing in these units increasing by more than a third.

There has been no change of approach or guidance to CPS prosecutors in their commitment towards the prosecution of rape offences. The CPS has undertaken extensive work over the last decade to ensure that specialist prosecutors are fully equipped to deal with the particular complexities of rape and serious sexual offences and that the Code for Crown Prosecutors is properly applied. This includes understanding victim vulnerabilities and the impact of rape, as well as consent, myths and stereotypes, and the particular difficulties of cases involving vulnerable witnesses and young people. In 2018-19 the CPS plans to embark upon a project to better understand the evolving nature of sexual behaviours and encounters amongst young people as there are particular challenges in cases involving young adults.

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-19"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-19T14:04:02.757Z"^^xsd:dateTime . rdfs:label "Biography information for Royston Smith" . rdfs:label "Biography information for Robert Halfon" . parl:answerText "

The Attorney General and Solicitor General meet the director of Public Prosecutions regularly to discuss CPS priority areas which includes ensuring that the CPS continues to protect vulnerable victims of crime. However, the Law Officers do not intervene on individual cases; judges have discretion to make decisions based on the evidence before them.

Section 12 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 enables courts to make restraining orders at the conclusion of a case. These are civil orders; however, breach of an order is a criminal offence. The Crown Prosecution Service takes domestic abuse seriously and in 2017 in England and Wales 19,216 restraining orders were issued on conviction and 1,932 were issued on acquittal. The Government sees the response to domestic abuse as a top priority and is committed to securing justice for all victims.

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-27"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-27T16:10:18.567Z"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Crown Prosecution Service: Wales" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, whether the Government has plans to close the Crown Prosecution Service office on (a) Greyfriars Road, Cardiff; (b) Wrexham Road, Mold and (c) Grove Place, Swansea." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "Ceredigion" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Ben Lake" ; parl:uin "189821" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-09"^^xsd:dateTime . rdfs:label "Biography information for Catherine West" . skos:prefLabel "House of Commons" . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Dementia: Prosecutions" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, what guidance he has published on laying criminal charges against people with dementia." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "Hendon" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Dr Matthew Offord" ; parl:uin "193451" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-20"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answerText "

The quantity of electricity and natural gas used by the Attorney General’s Office and the Law Officers Departments (CPS, SFO, GLD and HMCPSI) is published in the CPS annual report (page 12) and can be found here.

The figures are also shown below.

(MWh) Megawatt hours

FY

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

Electricity

7,844

5,412

6,993

Gas

3,115

3,579

5,586

It is not possible to break these figures down any further without incurring disproportionate cost.

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-19"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-19T13:17:07.41Z"^^xsd:dateTime . rdfs:label "Biography information for Catherine McKinnell" . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Attorney General: Billing" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of contracts issued by his Department and contractors include provisions to impose, as between parties to the subcontract, that any payment due from the contractor to a subcontractor under the contract is to be made no later than the end of a period of 30 days from the date on which the relevant invoice is regarded as valid and undisputed, as required by the Public Contract Regulations 2015." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "Hemsworth" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Jon Trickett" ; parl:uin "189562" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-09"^^xsd:dateTime . rdfs:label "Biography information for Ben Lake" . rdfs:label "Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland" . rdfs:label "Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell" . parl:answerText "

Details of the full time and part time personnel employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the last two years are shown in the table below:

Year

Full Time Personnel

Part Time Personnel

Totals

2016/17

4436

1548

5984

2017/18

4417

1563

5980

Difference

-19

+15

-4

(Data Source CPS Trent HR Database as at 16/11/18)

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-20"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-20T12:27:50.023Z"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answerText "

The cost of electricity and natural gas used by the Attorney General’s Office and the Law Officers Departments (CPS, SFO, GLD and HMCPSI) is published in the CPS annual report (page 12) which can be found here.

The costs are also shown below.

Financial Year

Electricity Spend (£)

Gas Spend (£)

2015-16

1,080,192

113,302

2016-17

1,008,263

96,623

2017-18

968,829

83,167

It is not possible to break these figures down any further without incurring disproportionate cost.

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-19"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-19T13:19:09.877Z"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answerText "

The Crown Prosecution Service has no plans to close its offices on (a) Greyfriars Road, Cardiff; (b) Wrexham Road, Mold and (c) Grove Place, Swansea.

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-15"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-15T14:53:10.4Z"^^xsd:dateTime . rdfs:label "Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord" . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Attorney General: Energy" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, what the quantity was of (a) electricity and (b) natural gas used by (i) the Attorney General's Office, (ii) the Crown Prosecution Service, (iii) the Government Legal Department and (iv) the Serious Fraud Office in each of the last three years for which figures are available." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Stuart C. McDonald" ; parl:uin "188845" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-06"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Dangerous Driving" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of (a) car and (b) HGV drivers involved in an accident with a motorcyclist were charged with careless driving in each year from 2014 to 2017." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "Southampton, Itchen" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Royston Smith" ; parl:uin "193490" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-21"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answer ; parl:answeringDeptId "88" ; parl:answeringDeptPrinted "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptShortName "Attorney General" ; parl:answeringDeptSortName "Attorney General" ; parl:hansardHeading "Rape: Criminal Proceedings" ; parl:houseId "1" ; parl:legislature ; parl:questionText "To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the change in the CPS charging, prosecution and conviction rates related to cases of rape since 2016-17." ; parl:registeredInterest false ; parl:tablingMember ; parl:tablingMemberConstituency "Newcastle upon Tyne North" ; parl:tablingMemberPrinted "Catherine McKinnell" ; parl:uin "191416" ; dcterms:date "2018-11-14"^^xsd:dateTime . parl:answerText "

Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 creates the offence of driving a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or other public place without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or public place. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of defendants charged with, or prosecuted for these offences. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.

As Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 is a specified offence large numbers of careless driving offences are charged and prosecuted by the police with no involvement from the CPS. The CPS only become involved if the defendant pleads not guilty to the offence after which, CPS prosecutors take responsibility for reviewing the case and preparing the trial. Figures on the number of people prosecuted and the outcome of the prosecution of careless or inconsiderate driving offences may be obtained from the official statistics held by the Ministry of Justice.

The CPS does however maintain records of the number of offences in which a CPS prosecution commenced, including offences of careless or inconsiderate driving. The table below shows the number of these offences during each year between 2014 and 2017.

2014

2015

2016

2017

Road Traffic Act 1988 { 3 }

11,230

9,730

9,238

8,350

Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

It should be noted that the figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It is may be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence.

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-27"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-27T17:33:19.34Z"^^xsd:dateTime . rdfs:label "Biography information for Stuart C McDonald" . parl:answerText "

The contracted minimum hours (including meal breaks) for the highest paid member of staff from the Serious Fraud Office, the Government Legal Department, and Crown Prosecution Service are:

SFO

42

GLD

42

CPS

42

This is in line with the terms and conditions of SCS appointments.

The highest paid member of staff from HM Crown Prosecution service is contracted to work 36 hours a week, not including meal breaks, plus additional hours as may, from time to time, be reasonable and necessary.

" ; parl:answeringMember ; parl:answeringMemberConstituency "South Swindon" ; parl:answeringMemberPrinted "Robert Buckland" ; parl:dateOfAnswer "2018-11-12"^^xsd:dateTime ; parl:isMinisterialCorrection false ; parl:questionFirstAnswered "2018-11-12T17:03:36.377Z"^^xsd:dateTime . a api:Page ; "10"^^xsd:long ; "1"^^xsd:long ; "1035"^^xsd:long ; dcterms:isPartOf ; api:definition ; api:extendedMetadataVersion ; api:items ( ) ; api:page "0"^^xsd:long ; ; . a api:ListEndpoint ; dcterms:hasPart ; api:definition .