Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the role of the CPS in tackling serious violent crime amongst young people is.
Answered by Robert Buckland
On 9 April 2018, the Government published a new Serious Violence Strategy to take action to address serious violence and in particular the recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide. The Serious Violence Strategy stresses the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes of serious violence and to provide young people with the skills and resilience to lead productive lives free from violence. The CPS is working with its cross-government partners to deliver the Strategy, and welcomes a public health prevention strategy relating to serious violence reduction.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what recent discussions he has had with the CPS on the effectiveness of prosecution in cases involving female genital mutilation.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The CPS is determined to bring those responsible for Female Genital Mutilation to justice, and recently obtained the first conviction for such a case, in London. CPS prosecutors work closely with the police from the outset of these cases to address the challenges they raise, including legal questions concerning jurisdiction and expert evidence, and have assigned FGM leads for every CPS Area. Whilst prosecution alone will not end this appalling crime, this first conviction sends out a strong message that FGM is child abuse and that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the cost to the public purse has been since December 2014 of the Government defending cases which have been appealed to the European Court of Justice following a ruling in the Royal Courts or the Supreme Court of England and Wales.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Cases are not appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union from UK courts but they can ask for preliminary rulings on a point of European law from the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The amount of disbursements paid by the Government for Counsel’s fees and for travel and accommodation costs for hearings in requests for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union from United Kingdom Courts since December 2014 was £33,288.42.
This includes requests for preliminary rulings made by UK Tribunals, but not other legal proceedings in the CJEU in which the UK Courts and Tribunals have played no part. It does not include disbursements incurred but not yet paid, the cost of government lawyers and other staff involved in these cases within the Government, or costs incurred in relation to the domestic aspects of the proceedings, which are not centrally recorded.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the CPS is taking to ensure the effective prosecution of British nationals inciting extremism.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Prosecutions for offences of stirring up racial and religious hatred and hatred based upon sexual orientation can only be brought with the consent of one of the Law Officers.
All cases where terrorism-related or incitement to hatred offences are being considered are dealt with by Specialist Prosecutors in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division to ensure a consistent approach. The CPS has also established a network of Hate Crime Coordinators to ensure that good practice and innovation is shared, produced a Hate Crime Strategy for 2014-17 and issued internal guidance to prosecutors setting out its approach to those involved in committing acts of violent extremism and inciting racial and religious hatred and hatred based upon sexual orientation.
Since 2006 27 defendants have been successfully prosecuted under the Public Order Act 1986 for offences related to inciting racial, religious or sexual hatred. In addition to this since ISIL was made a proscribed organisation in June 2014 6 individuals have been successfully prosecuted under the terrorism Act 2006 for inciting or promoting terrorist activities.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many recipients of benefits resident in the London Borough of Havering have been prosecuted as a result of fraudulent claims in each year since January 2011.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Since April 2012, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been responsible for prosecuting benefit fraud offences investigated by the DWP and Local Authorities. The CPS does not hold data for prosecutions of benefit fraud prior to April 2012.
Furthermore the CPS does not keep records of prosecutions of benefit fraud by recipients of benefits resident in the London Borough of Havering.
To produce this information would require reviewing individual case files which would incur disproportionate cost.