Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many staff network events took place in her Department in May 2025; and what the names of those events were.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
No staff network events took place in my Department in May 2025.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Statistics on religion or belief for the Attorney General’s Office, as at 31 March 2024, are published on the Civil Service Statistics 2024 (Table A3). The Cabinet Office publish the information annually.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether her Department has updated guidance on the use of single-sex facilities in response to the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
We will review and update policy wherever necessary to ensure it complies with the latest legal requirements. We aim to ensure appropriate facilities are available for all staff.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether the Attorney General has appointed a special advocate in relation to the Chinese Embassy called-in planning application and public inquiry.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Attorney General has not been asked to appoint a special advocate.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what guidance the Crown Prosecution Service provides to prosecutors when considering whether to charge people who have used force in self-defence within their own home.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Charging decisions in cases regarding householders and the use of force against intruders in England and Wales are made independently by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Reasonable force may be used by homeowners to protect themselves or others if a crime is taking place inside their home. This means individuals can protect themselves ‘in the heat of the moment’ - this includes using an object as a weapon or to stop an intruder running off - for example by tackling them to the ground. There is no specific definition of ‘reasonable force’ as this will depend on each individual circumstance. A homeowner does not have to wait to be attacked before defending themselves in their home. If a homeowner has acted in reasonable self-defence and the intruder dies, they will still have acted lawfully.
However, a prosecution could follow if, for example, the attack on an intruder continues after the danger has passed or a trap has been pre-planned for an individual rather than informing and involving the police.
Guidance regarding householders and the use of force against intruders can be found at Householders and the use of force against intruders | The Crown Prosecution Service.
The CPS does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants who were homeowners prosecuted for using unreasonable or excessive force to protect themselves against an intruder in their home. To establish whether defendants were homeowners using excessive force against an intruder would require a manual review of case files and with over 440,000 defendants prosecuted by the CPS during 2024, this would be at disproportionate cost.
Data is held from 2015 showing the number offences of murder, attempted murder, and manslaughter charged by way of common law (or the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 in respect of attempted murder) in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ courts. From 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2024, 12,418 such offences were charged. This figure relates to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data is held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many homeowners have been prosecuted for using force against individuals unlawfully present in their homes in the last 10 years.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Charging decisions in cases regarding householders and the use of force against intruders in England and Wales are made independently by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Reasonable force may be used by homeowners to protect themselves or others if a crime is taking place inside their home. This means individuals can protect themselves ‘in the heat of the moment’ - this includes using an object as a weapon or to stop an intruder running off - for example by tackling them to the ground. There is no specific definition of ‘reasonable force’ as this will depend on each individual circumstance. A homeowner does not have to wait to be attacked before defending themselves in their home. If a homeowner has acted in reasonable self-defence and the intruder dies, they will still have acted lawfully.
However, a prosecution could follow if, for example, the attack on an intruder continues after the danger has passed or a trap has been pre-planned for an individual rather than informing and involving the police.
Guidance regarding householders and the use of force against intruders can be found at Householders and the use of force against intruders | The Crown Prosecution Service.
The CPS does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants who were homeowners prosecuted for using unreasonable or excessive force to protect themselves against an intruder in their home. To establish whether defendants were homeowners using excessive force against an intruder would require a manual review of case files and with over 440,000 defendants prosecuted by the CPS during 2024, this would be at disproportionate cost.
Data is held from 2015 showing the number offences of murder, attempted murder, and manslaughter charged by way of common law (or the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 in respect of attempted murder) in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ courts. From 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2024, 12,418 such offences were charged. This figure relates to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data is held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many people have been prosecuted for hate crime in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutes hate crimes in England and Wales.
In the year to December 2024, in England and Wales the CPS prosecuted 14,657 defendants for offences flagged as hate crimes with a charge rate of 87.4%, and a conviction rate of 86.1%.
Data for Q4 2024-2025 will be published on the CPS website (CPS quarterly data summaries | The Crown Prosecution Service) in due course.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to ensure that people who act in good faith to protect themselves or others from intruders are not prosecuted.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Charging decisions in cases regarding householders and the use of force against intruders in England and Wales are made independently by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Reasonable force may be used by homeowners to protect themselves or others if a crime is taking place inside their home. This means individuals can protect themselves ‘in the heat of the moment’ - this includes using an object as a weapon or to stop an intruder running off - for example by tackling them to the ground. There is no specific definition of ‘reasonable force’ as this will depend on each individual circumstance. A homeowner does not have to wait to be attacked before defending themselves in their home. If a homeowner has acted in reasonable self-defence and the intruder dies, they will still have acted lawfully.
However, a prosecution could follow if, for example, the attack on an intruder continues after the danger has passed or a trap has been pre-planned for an individual rather than informing and involving the police.
Guidance regarding householders and the use of force against intruders can be found at Householders and the use of force against intruders | The Crown Prosecution Service.
The CPS does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants who were homeowners prosecuted for using unreasonable or excessive force to protect themselves against an intruder in their home. To establish whether defendants were homeowners using excessive force against an intruder would require a manual review of case files and with over 440,000 defendants prosecuted by the CPS during 2024, this would be at disproportionate cost.
Data is held from 2015 showing the number offences of murder, attempted murder, and manslaughter charged by way of common law (or the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 in respect of attempted murder) in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ courts. From 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2024, 12,418 such offences were charged. This figure relates to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data is held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many permanent civil servants had their contract of employment terminated as a result of poor performance in the (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
In the Attorney General’s Office, no permanent civil servants had their contract of employment terminated as a result of poor performance in the (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 financial years.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether she has made representations to the Court of Appeal on the unduly lenient sentencing of those convicted of causing the death of Bhim Kohli.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Law Officers have 28 days from the date of sentence to consider any requests received under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme for referral of a sentence to the Court of Appeal. I can confirm my department has received such referral requests in relation to the sentencing of two youths responsible for causing the death of Bhim Kohli. The deadline for any referral to the Court of Appeal is 3 July 2025. The hon. Member will be informed in due course of the Law Officers’ decision.