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Written Question
CPS Direct
Monday 16th January 2017

Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what the average call (a) answer time and (b) length was for CPS Direct in each year since 2012.

Answered by Robert Buckland

The call handling system used by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) provides precise timings on queuing time of all calls received. Figures on length of call have been estimated from available data.

In 2012-13 the average answer time was 2 minutes 43 seconds; 2013-14 4 minutes 18; 2014-15 12 minutes 34; 2015-16 16 minutes 05 and 2016-17 25 minutes 03.

For the corresponding years the length of call has reduced from 39 minutes 15 seconds in 2012, 29 minutes 31 in 2013, 26 minutes 52 in 2014, 24 minutes 51 in 2015 and 23 minutes 02 in 2016.

Throughout this period there have been many changes to the process of CPS authorisation of police charging making year-on-year comparisons potentially misleading.

Issues which adversely affected efficiency in the summer of 2016 have now been addressed and the current daily average answering times are below 6 minutes.

Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 11 Jan 2017
Crown Prosecution Service: Funding

"I beg to move,

That this House has considered the funding of the Crown Prosecution Service.

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hanson. Before I begin, I must declare my interests. I am a member of Wilberforce barristers’ chambers in Hull, but am not currently …..."
Karl Turner - View Speech

View all Karl Turner (Lab - Kingston upon Hull East) contributions to the debate on: Crown Prosecution Service: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 11 Jan 2017
Crown Prosecution Service: Funding

"I will read out a whole load of stats and talk about what is happening in the profession in the real world—about what lawyers and solicitors from the defence, and barristers who prosecute and defend, are saying is really happening. The hon. Gentleman wants to pretend that everything in the …..."
Karl Turner - View Speech

View all Karl Turner (Lab - Kingston upon Hull East) contributions to the debate on: Crown Prosecution Service: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 11 Jan 2017
Crown Prosecution Service: Funding

"The hon. Gentleman is of course right, but I was less than two minutes into my remarks when the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk) intervened. If I am allowed to, I will come on to clarify the points being made by the Government Back Benchers...."
Karl Turner - View Speech

View all Karl Turner (Lab - Kingston upon Hull East) contributions to the debate on: Crown Prosecution Service: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 11 Jan 2017
Crown Prosecution Service: Funding

"My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I will make that point myself. Excluding guilty pleas, conviction rates in magistrates courts and Crown courts are significantly down, despite the headline figure of an 80% conviction rate. I think the conviction rate in magistrates courts is about 50%, and in Crown courts …..."
Karl Turner - View Speech

View all Karl Turner (Lab - Kingston upon Hull East) contributions to the debate on: Crown Prosecution Service: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 11 Jan 2017
Crown Prosecution Service: Funding

"That is a fair point, but nevertheless £21.5 million is a staggering amount of money to be spent by the CPS on preparing cases for trial only for them not to come to anything. It is easy to mention such figures, but we must have some thought and regard for …..."
Karl Turner - View Speech

View all Karl Turner (Lab - Kingston upon Hull East) contributions to the debate on: Crown Prosecution Service: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 11 Jan 2017
Crown Prosecution Service: Funding

"I will be as quick as I possibly can be, but it is crucial that I mention what the junior members are saying. This person says:

“I often work in the magistrates court, where matters are unfortunately often in chaos so far as prosecutions are concerned. The CPS are dealing …..."
Karl Turner - View Speech

View all Karl Turner (Lab - Kingston upon Hull East) contributions to the debate on: Crown Prosecution Service: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 11 Jan 2017
Crown Prosecution Service: Funding

"I am surprised to hear that the hon. Gentleman did not intend to speak. I received an email that said he intended to do so...."
Karl Turner - View Speech

View all Karl Turner (Lab - Kingston upon Hull East) contributions to the debate on: Crown Prosecution Service: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 11 Jan 2017
Crown Prosecution Service: Funding

"I did not say it is...."
Karl Turner - View Speech

View all Karl Turner (Lab - Kingston upon Hull East) contributions to the debate on: Crown Prosecution Service: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 11 Jan 2017
Crown Prosecution Service: Funding

"Does the hon. Gentleman think that those “systematic failings”, as he puts it, are getting better because the CPS is experiencing a £185 million a year cut to its funds?..."
Karl Turner - View Speech

View all Karl Turner (Lab - Kingston upon Hull East) contributions to the debate on: Crown Prosecution Service: Funding