Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January to Question 103029, on Crown Prosecution Service: Vacancies, how the vacancy rate for Crown Prosecutors as of the end of December 2025 compares the preceding five years, broken down by region.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The overall vacancy rate for ‘Crown Prosecutors’ across the 14 regional, geographic areas that make up the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is 4.5% (at the end of December 2025). The table below includes the regional breakdown for CPS vacancy rates applicable to these legal roles for December 2025 against the three preceding years only*.
Area | Dec-22 | Dec-23 | Dec-24 | Dec-25 |
Cymru Wales | 10.3% | 6.0% | 2.4% | 7.0% |
East of England | 10.7% | 6.0% | 6.1% | 3.9% |
East Midlands | 14.9% | 8.8% | 4.0% | 8.6% |
London North | 1.5% | 0.4% | 0.9% | 9.0% |
London South | 6.1% | 4.7% | 0.4% | -3.9% |
Mersey Cheshire | 5.4% | 9.5% | -0.9% | 2.6% |
North East | 12.1% | 5.2% | 6.1% | 15.4% |
North West | 10.2% | 1.7% | 5.7% | -3.4% |
South East | 4.5% | 1.8% | -1.2% | 3.8% |
South West | 7.7% | 14.1% | 0.7% | -0.1% |
Thames and Chiltern | 7.5% | 8.8% | 7.4% | 11.5% |
Wessex | 10.0% | 5.5% | 4.8% | 1.3% |
West Midlands | 17.2% | 7.3% | 1.4% | 6.9% |
Yorkshire and Humberside | 12.8% | 5.0% | 4.7% | 4.0% |
14 Geographic Areas | 9.5% | 5.6% | 3.0% | 4.5% |
*The CPS does not hold information on vacancy rates dating back five years and has therefore provided the three years preceding December 2025 only.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, by how much they plan to reduce their Department's budget to help fund the digital ID scheme.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Digital Identity policy is in development, with a dedicated team inside the Cabinet Office working to develop the proposals.
Costs in this Spending Review period will be met within the existing Spending Review settlements.
We are inviting the public to have their say in the upcoming consultation as we develop a safe, secure, and inclusive system for the UK. No final decisions will be made until after the consultation.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what discussions she is having with the Ministry of Justice on expanding the Unduly Lenient Sentencing Scheme to include victims of technology-assisted child sexual abuse.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Protection of Children Act 1978 already includes ‘pseudo’ images of children within the definition of indecent images. Therefore, any sexualised images of children produced by AI will already be covered by the legislation surrounding indecent images, and consequently already fall within ULS scheme.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, on what specific date the Attorney General recused himself from discussions or decisions regarding the Government’s defence and settlement of Zubaydah v Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and whether he has had any communication with the Foreign Secretary, her predecessor, or any officials regarding this case since his appointment.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Without commenting on individual cases, the government’s robust conflict process would clearly preclude Law Officers having any involvement in cases in which they were instructed for other parties prior to appointment.
By longstanding convention, recognised in paragraph 5.14 of the Ministerial Code, the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised, and the content of their advice, must not be disclosed outside government without their authority.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, If he will deposit case papers in the case R. v. Nathan Gill in the Library of the House of Commons.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Law Officers will not deposit case papers in this matter.
This was a CPS prosecution and the Attorney General’s involvement was only to provide consent for one of the offences charged. This offence has been left to lie on file, following pleas from Nathan Gill to substantive offences of bribery.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether his Department holds data on communication between members of the European Parliament, UK Parliament and members of UK devolved legislatures and Oleh Voloshyn in the period between 2014-2019.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The department has conducted a search of the electronic materials currently available to it. No data on communications within the scope of this question was identified.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, What date is the earliest evidence of bribery in the case of R. v. Nathan Gill.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The dates of the bribery offences are a matter of public record, the earliest being 6 December 2018.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what the current vacancy rate is for Crown Prosecutors, broken down by region.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The overall vacancy rate for ‘Crown Prosecutors’* across the 14 regional, geographic areas that make up the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is 4.5% (at the end of December 2025). The table below includes the regional breakdown for CPS vacancy rates applicable to these legal roles.
For context, the vacancy rates are shown alongside the number of vacancies within each geographic area, against the current area Full Time Equivalent (FTE).
*These figures include all legal staff designated as ‘Crown Prosecutors’ only.
| Actual FTE | Budget FTE (T2) | Vacancies | Vacancy Rate |
Cymru Wales Area | 151.85 | 163.28 | 11.43 | 7.0% |
East of England Area | 145.80 | 151.66 | 5.86 | 3.9% |
East Midlands Area | 176.25 | 192.83 | 16.58 | 8.6% |
London North | 253.48 | 278.48 | 25.00 | 9.0% |
London South | 248.80 | 239.43 | (9.37) | -3.9% |
Mersey Cheshire Area | 133.79 | 137.32 | 3.53 | 2.6% |
North East Area | 110.03 | 130.07 | 20.04 | 15.4% |
North West Area | 251.40 | 243.14 | (8.26) | -3.4% |
South East Area | 145.64 | 151.46 | 5.82 | 3.8% |
South West Area | 128.69 | 128.50 | (0.19) | -0.1% |
Thames and Chiltern Area | 127.48 | 144.01 | 16.53 | 11.5% |
Wessex Area | 121.19 | 122.75 | 1.56 | 1.3% |
West Midlands Area | 230.80 | 247.82 | 17.01 | 6.9% |
Yorkshire and Humberside Area | 237.70 | 247.53 | 9.82 | 4.0% |
14 Geographic Areas | 2,462.91 | 2,578.27 | 115.36 | 4.5% |
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what the average time taken by the Crown Prosecution Service to make a charging decision was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) holds management information which shows the mean average in calendar days from referral for a charging decision or early advice to the decision to authorise a charge against suspects.
This was 46 days in 2024-25, 44 days in 2023-24, 45 days in 2022-23 and 42 days in 2021-22.
The timeliness data includes cases where the police have submitted a file for early advice as well as those for charging decision. The data includes cases where the police were required to submit further evidence prior to a decision to charge. This generally includes more than one submission and more investigation.
The timeliness of a charging decision is determined by three key factors: whether the case has been sent to the CPS for early advice during the investigative process, how quickly the police can complete the necessary enquiries; and how quickly the CPS can then review the evidence provided by the police and finalise the charging decision.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether the Serious Fraud Office plans to update (a) operational guidance and (b) case selection criteria for foreign bribery cases.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The SFO’s operational guidance and processes are kept under constant review to ensure they continue to meet operational needs. The SFO’s case selection criteria are established in the Director’s Statement of Principle and ensure that the SFO meets its statutory obligations to investigate and prosecute serious or complex fraud, bribery and corruption.
The Law Officers have supervisory oversight of the SFO’s work and regularly assess their operational performance. The SFO’s work is also independently reviewed by the HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate to ensure that they are following good practice.