Asked by: Lord Stone of Blackheath (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their response to the report from the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, Private prosecutions: safeguards (9th Report, Session 2019–21), in which they confirmed that a registry of private prosecutions would be made available, why this has not yet been made available; when this is expected to be made available; and how much taxpayer money was paid to legal firms prosecuting private prosecutions (other than legal aid) between 2015 and 2023.
Answered by Lord Stewart of Dirleton - Advocate General for Scotland
In 2020, the Justice Select Committee (JSC) undertook a review of private prosecutions and provided nine recommendations.
The Government agreed to two of these recommendations:
Private Prosecution Register
In the Government’s response to the JSC report, we agreed that a central register of private prosecutions would be introduced to include the names of the prosecutor and defendant, the offence in question, and whether the summons application was granted. This register was introduced by HMCTS in late 2021.
The register is not publicly accessible, and it was neither a recommendation made by the JSC report nor an undertaking agreed by the Government for it to be. The register contains personal data including where people have been accused of crimes where the court found there were no grounds to commence a prosecution. The register is a court record and there are no grounds provided under rules of court, the Data Protection Act 2018 or the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for these personal details to be released to the public.
Requests for non-personal information from the register are accessible through a Freedom of Information request to HMCTS.
Cost of Private Prosecutions
The Government has committed to bringing forward legislation to ensure costs recoverable from central funds by a private prosecutor are limited in the same way as costs recoverable by an acquitted defendant and will enact this when parliamentary time allows.
The assessment of claims and payment of prosecutors’ costs out of central funds for cases brought in the magistrates’ court and Crown Court is undertaken by the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Criminal Cases Unit (CCU) unless the court summarily assesses the claim under s.17(2B) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. Information about central funds expenditure, including private prosecutions, is published on a quarterly basis within the LAA’s official statistics. A copy of the relevant data is attached at Annex A.
Other Recommendations
Sir Wyn Williams’ Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is examining, in detail, the failings that led to the Post Office scandal. It is possible that this will provide insight on the extent to which the private prosecution regime played a role in this particular injustice.
The Government is, however, examining the wider question of private prosecutions and is therefore committed to looking again at the Justice Select Committee’s recommendations in their 2020 report as part of this work.
Asked by: Lord Stone of Blackheath (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the trends in the funding of private prosecutions; and what steps they are taking to ensure that privately-funded prosecutions are not misused in ways that are counter to the public interest.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Under s.17 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 the court has the power to order the payment from central funds of such amount as the court considers reasonably sufficient to compensate the prosecutor for any expenses properly incurred by them in the proceedings.
Responsibility of assessing claims and administering payment of criminal claims out of central funds for work done in the magistrates’ court and Crown Court are assessed by the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Criminal Cases Unit (CCU) unless the court summarily assesses the claim under s.17(2B) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985.
Information about central funds expenditure, including private prosecutions, is published on a quarterly basis within the LAA’s official statistics. The statistics provide useful management information to inform policy and legislative changes. A copy of the relevant data is attached.
The Justice Select Committee (JSC) considered safeguards in private prosecutions in 2021. They found that private prosecutions are rigorously tested, and weak ones filtered out. The Government agrees that, in most cases, existing safeguards work to prevent private prosecutions being misused.
In accordance with recommendations set out in the JSC report a private prosecutions register has been established for the magistrates’ courts in England and Wales. This enables the court or an authorised legal adviser, deciding whether to issue a summons to commence proceedings, to identify whether an application has already been determined or has been made by a vexatious litigant so that it can, where appropriate, be refused expeditiously.
The Criminal Procedure Rules have been amended so that they list the circumstances in which magistrates’ courts may refuse to issue a summons. The rules now also require summonses that are issued on the application of a private prosecutor to identify the prosecutor. This is intended to make it easier for defendants to refer their case to the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider taking over the case under s.6(2) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985.
As set out in its response to the JSC report, the Government is committed to introducing legislation to limit the amount of costs a private prosecutor can recover from central funds, mirroring the arrangements already in place for private paying defendants, where recoverable costs are capped at legal aid rates.