Page:Hansard (UK) - Vol 566 No. 40 August 29th 2013.pdf/88

Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General pursuant to the answer of 11 July 2013, Official Report, column 352W, on prosecution, what triggered the review by the Crown Prosecution Service of its use of a single prosecutor on homicide cases and cases involving multiple defendants; and when he expects the review to be completed.

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The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) keeps its guidance under regular review. CPS criteria for the instruction of more than one counsel, or QC alone, was first introduced in 2005 and revised in 2009. The latest consultation was triggered by a lapse of about three years since the previous revision. It was also apparent from discussions with the senior judiciary and others that there was external interest in this subject and a formal consultation allowed external parties the opportunity to contribute their views on the merits of the criteria. The review will be completed later in 2013.

Regulation

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Attorney General what the title is of each regulation the Law Officers’ Departments (a) introduced and (b) revoked in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013 to date; and if he will make a statement.

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The Solicitor-General: The Law Officers have introduced three statutory instruments since May 2010, details of which are outlined below. Each Order amended the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (Specified Proceedings) Order 1999. No statutory instruments have been revoked.

Department	Date laid before Parliament	Title of Regulation/Order
AGO	26th June 2012	The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (Specified Proceedings) (Amendment) Order 2012
AGO	10th August 2012	The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (Specified Proceedings) (Amendment No. 2) Order 2012
AGO	26th October 2012	The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (Specified Proceedings) (Amendment No. 3) Order 2012

Sentencing: Appeals

Philip Davies: To ask the Attorney General pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2013, Official Report, columns 12-13W, on sentencing: appeals, how many of the cases in each category of offence were referred to him by (a) victims or families of victims, (b) the police, (c) the Crown Prosecution Service and (d) other members of the public.

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The Solicitor-General: The information requested is contained in the following tables.

2010

Offence category	CPS	General public/MP/Victim or victim’s family
Arson	2	0
Burglary	10	0
Driving deaths	4	6
Drugs	32	1
Firearms	732	0
Hate crime	0	0
Manslaughter	10	16
Murder	9	5
Robbery	28	1
S.18 OAPA	13	7
Sexual offences	50	25
Other	36	10

2011

Offence category	CPS	General public/MP/Victim or victim’s family
Arson	2	0
Burglary	14	12
Driving deaths	0	8
Drugs	78	1
Firearms	5	1
Hate crime	1	0
Manslaughter	12	6
Murder	12	13
Robbery	32	3
s.18 OAPA	30	6
Sexual offences	35	18
Other	12	19

2012

Offence category	CPS	Victim or victim’s family	General public/MP
Arson	1	0	0
Burglary	18	11	1
Driving deaths	4	3	6
Drugs	37	0	1
Firearms	3	1	1
Hate crime	0	0	1
Manslaughter	8	7	14
Murder	5	5	11
Robbery	46	3	2
s.18 OAPA	17	3	4
Sexual offences	43	15	66
Other	12	3	28

In 2010 and 2011 the categories of victim/general public/MP were not recorded separately. The statistics for 2012, however, do separate the victim complaints from the general public complaints. The category of ’General public’ may also include, for example, campaigning organisations.

In some cases, requests to review the sentence were received from both the CPS and victims, MPs and/or the general public and the total figures may not therefore appear to be consistent with the answer given in the answer of 8th July 2013.

Philip Davies: To ask the Attorney General pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2013, Official Report, columns 12-13W, on sentencing: appeals, for what offence each out of time case was for; and what the sentence was in each case.

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The Solicitor-General: The following table contains details on the out of time cases for referable offences between 2010 and 2012. In addition to this there were four cases in 2010 and two cases in 2011 for non-referable offences.