Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutors from the Crown Prosecution Service were furloughed between April 2020 and October 2020.
Answered by Michael Ellis
There were no CPS staff placed on furlough during the period April – Oct 2020.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the average salary is for (a) trainee solicitors and (b) pupil barristers working for the Crown Prosecution Service as at 1 June 2020.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The average salary for trainee solicitors and pupil barristers working for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as at 1st June 2020 is as follows:
(a) trainee solicitor £27,961
(b) pupil barrister £26,038
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the value, including interest, was of outstanding confiscation orders where the Serious Fraud Office had the lead enforcement role in the financial year 2016-17; and what estimate he has made of how much of that value will be recovered.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
Recovering the proceeds of crime is a one of the SFO’s strategic objectives. The SFO is committed to using all tools available to it in conducting its proceeds of crime work, and to ensuring that confiscation orders (arising from the cases it prosecutes) are satisfied in full. The SFO has a specialist Proceeds of Crime and International Assistance Division, whose work includes restraint, confiscation and enforcement, civil recovery, and money laundering investigations and prosecutions.
A detailed breakdown of the SFO’s performance in recovering the proceeds of crime over the last five years is published on its website at: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/about-us/.
In 2016-17, £25.4m of financial orders, compensation orders and civil recovery orders were obtained and over £20m was actually recovered in respect of previous orders obtained by the SFO. At present the recovery rate for confiscation orders made in the last four financial years is 81%.
The value of outstanding confiscation (current order amount)[1] orders as of 3rd July 2017, including interest, in which the SFO has the lead enforcement role is £144,952,036. The total interest in respect of these orders is £50,294,045 and the net amount outstanding is £94,657,991. Most of the net outstanding amount (88%) relates to just four out of 22 current orders.
The SFO estimate that their current realistic recoverable amount is between £10 - £12 million.[2] The amount that is currently assessed as unrecoverable comprises in the main hidden assets, unrecovered tainted gifts to associates, assets subject to third party claims or overseas assets.
[1] Orders can be increased (s.22 POCA) and decreased (s.23 POCA) and the figures set out relate to the current order amount and not the original amount
[2] The figure provided above is the SFOs best estimate as of 04/07/2017.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many times since 2010 the Serious Fraud Office has applied for Blockbuster Funding; what decision was made on each application; and how much funding was granted to each successful applicant.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
There have been eight blockbuster funding applications since 2010, all of which which have been approved by the Treasury. Funding for these cases is provided from the reserve. Total reserve funding by year from 2012-13 is:
2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 |
£000s | £000s | £000s | £000s | £000s |
- | 5,000 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
6,735 | 19,000 | 23,237 | 18,000 | 7,500 |
6,735 | 24,000 | 25,237 | 28,000 | 17,500 |
All of these blockbuster funded cases are still under active investigation and it is not possible for operational reasons to provide a breakdown of how the funding is allocated in each case.
Reserve funding for years prior to 2016-17 also covers the costs of the SFO’s civil litigation cases.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many fraud prosecutions the Crown Prosecution Service has brought in Crown Courts in England and Wales in each of the last five years; and what the outcomes of those prosecutions were.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the numbers of defendants and the outcome of prosecution proceedings, divided into twelve Principal Offence Categories, including ‘Fraud and Forgery’. The numbers of defendants prosecuted in Crown Courts under this category for each CPS Area and Casework Divisions are provided in the accompanying attachment along with the outcomes of those prosecutions.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Answer of 20 April 2017 to Question 70644, on confiscation orders, how much has been collected as a result of confiscation orders obtained by the Crown Prosecution Service in the 2016-17 financial year.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) collected £88,069,419 in the 2016-17 financial year in respect of confiscation orders where it was the Lead Enforcement Agency.
Domestic confiscation orders, once obtained are enforced by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) assists in the enforcement process in situations where it can add value, such as by managing restraint orders, seeking the appointment of enforcement receivers and, in relation to assets held overseas, seeking assistance from other jurisdictions. It is the Lead Enforcement agency in these cases. When the CPS can no longer add value to the enforcement of a confiscation order, the responsibility for enforcement reverts to HMCTS and the CPS no longer monitors its progress.
The CPS only retains data on those orders in which it assists in the enforcement process. The latest data relates to March 2017.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Answer of 20 April 2017 to Question 70644, on confiscation orders, what the outstanding debt is by Crown Prosecution Service Area.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
As of the 1 March 2017, the outstanding debt by CPS Area is set out in the table below:
CPS Area | Outstanding Debt |
Eastern | £2,963,978 |
East Midlands | £6,112,440 |
London | £30,200,496 |
Merseyside & Cheshire | £2,200,543 |
North East | £3,269,540 |
North West | £9,622,411 |
South East | £9,193,325 |
South West | £3,953,153 |
Thames & Chiltern | £7,197,057 |
Wales - Cymru | £4,645,004 |
Wessex | £1,097,810 |
West Midlands | £14,005,735 |
Yorkshire & Humberside | £10,615,319 |
Organised Crime Division | £47,783,983 |
Specialist Fraud Division | £401,017,161 |
Special Crime & Counter Terrorism Division | £60,456 |
Total | £553,938,410 |
Domestic confiscation orders, once obtained are enforced by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) assists in the enforcement process in situations where it can add value, such as by managing restraint orders, seeking the appointment of enforcement receivers and, in relation to assets held overseas, seeking assistance from other jurisdictions. When the CPS can no longer add value to the enforcement of a confiscation order, the responsibility for enforcement reverts to HMCTS and the CPS no longer monitors its progress.
The CPS only retains data on those orders in which it assists in the enforcement process. The latest data relates to March 2017.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the cost is of (a) running and (b) administering the Serious Fraud Office online reporting tool.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
During the financial year 2016/17, the SFO recorded expenditure of £21,943 for hosting its secure communications infrastructure. This supports one-off questionnaires for victims of specific, alleged frauds and secure communications with overseas partners, as well as the secure reporting tool.
In addition, £450 for administration costs was incurred. This was for user licence fees attributable to accessing the secure reporting tool.
These totals do not include any staff costs as this work is done alongside normal duties. The SFO does not hold accurate information on the time spent administering the system.
Since its introduction, the SFO has continued to improve the functionality of the reporting tool to assist people in making more comprehensive reports about alleged fraud, bribery or corruption. The reporting tool also has the advantage of allowing referrers to make a report anonymously and in confidence without fear of reprisal. It is the main source of people reporting offences to the SFO. It has improved the way in which offences are reported by simplifying the method of doing so. It has also increased the security of those communications. In addition, it offers guidance on other organisations to contact for assistance if the matter falls outside the SFO’s remit.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much debt remains outstanding under confiscation orders obtained by the Crown Prosecution Service including interest; and what recent estimate he has made of how much of that debt is recoverable.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
As of the 1 March 2017, the CPS is leading in the enforcement of 1062 confiscation orders and the outstanding debt, excluding interest is £553,938,410, which represents a fall of 7% over the course of the last 12 months. Of that debt, £145,935,292 (which represents 26% of the total amount) has been assessed as being recoverable. The amount of outstanding debt, including interest, is £682,535,112.
Domestic confiscation orders, once obtained, are enforced by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) assists in the enforcement process in situations where it can add value, such as by managing restraint orders, seeking the appointment of enforcement receivers and, in relation to assets held overseas, seeking assistance from other jurisdictions. When the CPS can no longer add value to the enforcement of a confiscation order, the responsibility for enforcement reverts to HMCTS and the CPS no longer monitors its progress.
The CPS only retains data on those orders in which it assists in the enforcement process. The latest data relates to March 2017.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many tip-offs were made to the Serious Fraud Office tip-off line in 2016; how many reports from that tip-off line were passed on to other investigatory bodies and prosecuting authorities; and how many such reports were deemed to contain enough information to justify opening an investigation.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
The SFO does not have a dedicated telephone tip-off line. Allegations of criminality are referred to the SFO by a variety of sources, including corporate self-referrals, other law enforcement or regulatory agencies both within the UK and overseas, non-governmental agencies as well as by members of the public. The largest number of referrals are submitted through the secure online reporting tool accessed by the SFO website. The online reporting tool was updated in February 2016. This has led to a decrease in overall direct referrals as users are provided with more information to report allegations that fall outside the SFO's statutory remit to a more appropriate agency. Everyone making referrals to the SFO via the website are routinely advised to report their allegations directly to Action Fraud, the UK's national fraud reporting centre.
In 2016 there were a recorded 1552 reports made through the SFO reporting tool. The SFO central records indicate that 80 of these reports were referred by the SFO to other investigative bodies for consideration although this may not capture every instance of a referral being made to another agency by the SFO.
The number of SFO investigations opened during 2016 which originated through the online reporting system during this period was 4.