Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20564, how many people were charged with jury (a) intimidation and (b) tampering in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 creates two offences:
S.51(1) creates an offence directed at acts against a person who assists in an investigation of an offence or who is a witness or potential witness or juror or potential juror whilst an investigation or trial is in progress
S.51(2) creates an offence directed at acts against a person who assisted in an investigation of an offence or who was a witness or juror after an investigation or trial has been concluded.
The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identify the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ courts, rather than the number of defendants prosecuted. A single defendant may be prosecuted for multiple offences.
The number of offences charged under s.51(1) and s.51(2) are as follows:
2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 | ||
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 51(1) | Intimidate a witness / juror | 3,275 | 2,630 | 2,148 | 2,066 | 2,202 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 51(2) | Do an act which harmed a witness / juror | 102 | 166 | 99 | 72 | 109 |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 51(2) | Threaten a witness / juror | 240 | 172 | 118 | 122 | 129 |
The proportion of CPS cases that result in a guilty plea has increased from 67.2% in 10/11 to 74.5% in 14/15 which means that there are fewer cases that are likely to be subject to the sorts of acts covered by s.51(1) during the course of the prosecution.
Also, s.51(1) covers intimidation of juror or potential jurors. The number of crown court trials have also been reducing over the period in question by 9.5%, again resulting in fewer cases where S.51(1) offences are likely to apply.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues in the Cabinet Office on the removal from the Ministerial Code of a reference to Ministers having a duty to comply with the law including international law and treaty obligations and to uphold the administration of justice.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
Information relating to internal discussion and advice is not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, in how many cases of assisted suicide the Crown Prosecution Service has received files in each of the last six years.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) records show that, between 1st April 2009 and 10 September 2015, there have been 114 cases, recorded as assisted suicide or euthanasia, referred by the Police. 24 of these cases were later withdrawn by the police.
The CPS central record cannot be filtered to identify how many referrals were received in each year. This information could only be obtained by manually examining CPS case files, which would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what amount each Government department has spent on external legal fees relating to each case involving substantive judicial review hearings since May 2010; and what the outcome of the proceedings was in each such case.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Treasury Solicitor conducts most, but not all, litigation on behalf of government departments. For example, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs normally conducts its own litigation. In 2014 the Treasury Solicitor acted in about 17846 judicial reviews.
The Treasury Solicitor’s Department does not hold central records on the external legal fees paid in each individual case or on the outcome of each such case. Such information could not be created without examining every case file and thus incurring disproportionate costs.
In relation to external fees, the Attorney General maintains five panels of junior counsel to undertake civil and EC work for all Government Departments. There are three London panels (an A panel for senior juniors, a B panel for middle juniors and a C panel for junior juniors) together with a Regional panel and a Public International Law panel. This is in addition to First Treasury Counsel (FTC) who exclusively does Government work, and to the Standing Counsel to certain Departments.
The hourly rates for panel counsel are as follows:
First Treasury Counsel - £230
A panel - £120
B panel - £80
C panel - £60 if under 5 years call and £80 if over 5 years call.
In relation to outcomes, the Ministry of Justice publish figures on the number of Judicial Reviews by each Department up to 2012:
See Table 4.3 at the link below:
This shows the number of cases each year where Government departments were named as first defendant and where the judicial review was granted following a substantive hearing.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many people were prosecuted for driving cars while (a) disqualified from driving and (b) uninsured in each police force area in the UK in each year since 2010.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not centrally record the total number of people prosecuted for driving whilst disqualified or driving whilst uninsured. To obtain details of the number of defendants prosecuted for these offences, would require a manual review of individual case files to be undertaken at a disproportionate cost.
Driving motor vehicles while uninsured are specified proceedings. These are offences that are prosecuted by the police rather than the CPS in order to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and ensure swifter justice. The CPS will only prosecute a specified offence in cases where a not guilty plea has been entered or when the defendant is charged with other associated offences such as driving with excess alcohol.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many judicial reviews there were involving Government departments according to records held by the (a) Treasury Solicitor and (b) Administrative Court Office in each of the last four years; and how many such reviews were upheld in whole or in part in each such year.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Treasury Solicitor’s Department holds records relating only to those cases in which it has acted. The Treasury Solicitor represents most, but not all, government departments in litigation. For example, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs normally conducts its own litigation. According to records held by the Treasury Solicitor, the number of judicial reviews involving government departments in which it has acted in each of the last four years is as follows:
2010 – 8,566
2011 – 9,603
2012 – 10,274
2013 – 16,449
Information relating to how many of those reviews were upheld in whole or in part in each year is not held centrally and could not be created without incurring disproportionate cost.
The information requested in respect of the Administrative Court Office is published online at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/267408/additional-court-tables-2012.xls . The 2013 data is not currently available.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, which regulations of the Law Officers' Departments are under review; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
No regulations are currently under review.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much has been spent on refurbishing (a) gymnasium and leisure facilities, (b) cafeteria and (c) interior decoration in (i) the Law Officers' Departments and (ii) buildings owned by the Law Officers' Departments in (A) 2013 and (B) 2014 to date.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has not spent anything on refurbishment of gymnasiums, leisure facilities or cafeterias in 2013 or 2014. The CPS spent £149,780 in financial year 2013/4 on interior decoration on a mix of refurbishment and other works on premises on its estate. Nothing has been spent in the current financial year to date. The CPS did not spend anything on interior decoration on buildings that it owns in either period.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) rents office space in a 1930s building in Cockspur Street. Its office has no gymnasium, leisure facilities or cafeteria. The SFO moved to this office in 2012/13 after it was refurbished to meet its needs. Any interior decoration was incidental to the overall refurbishment project. The SFO does not hold information on the proportion of refurbishment costs attributable to interior decoration.
In 2013/14, the SFO took over an additional floor in the building containing its office in order to be able to accommodate staff dealing with some of its newly-opened major investigations. That floor, too, required refurbishment. Again, the SFO does not hold information on the proportion of the refurbishment costs attributable to interior decoration, but can indicate that the cost of painting existing walls amounted to £9k plus VAT. Nothing has been spent on interior decoration in 2014/15 to date.
The Treasury Solicitor’s department (TSol) did not incur any expenditure on gymnasium or leisure facilities at its offices during the past two years
The floor in the main cafeteria within its main at One Kemble Street was replaced in April 2014 for health and safety reasons, at a cost of £42,282.55 (inclusive of VAT). No other refurbishment works have taken place in 2013 and 2014 within the cafeterias.
Interior decorations undertaken within the three buildings leased by TSol are included in the annual service charge payable to the relevant landlord. In the One Kemble Street office, itemised works specific to TSol totalled £187 in 2013 and £0.00 to date in 2014. No interior decorative works have taken place in Croydon or Taunton.
The HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate are tenants of TSol and based at the One Kemble Street building. They have not incurred any separate expenditure during the past two years.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) is based in one building in Victoria Street, which is leased. There has been no expenditure on gymnasium and leisure activities or on a cafeteria in 2013 or 2014 to date. AGO has incurred no expenditure on internal decoration in 2013 or 2014 to date.