Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, if he will take steps to encourage barristers who are employed through the Service Prosecuting Authority to enter the selection competition to become Queen's Counsel.
Answered by Robert Buckland
I would strongly encourage anyone with the appropriate skills and experience to apply to become Queen’s Counsel, including those at the employed bar and within the Service Prosecuting Authority.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for each category of hate crime since 2010.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of prosecutions flagged as hate crimes. Hate crimes comprise offences motivated by hostility or prejudice to a person’s race or perceived race, religion or perceived religion, sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation, disability or perceived disability and transgender identity or perceived transgender identity. These data are accurate only to the extent that the flag has been correctly applied.
The tables below show the number and proportion of convictions and overall prosecutions, by each category of hate crime, during each of the last five available years:
TOTAL HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS
| Convictions |
| Total |
2010-11 | 12,651 | 82.8% | 15,284 |
2011-12 | 11,843 | 83.4% | 14,196 |
2012-13 | 10,794 | 82.6% | 13,070 |
2013-14 | 11,915 | 84.7% | 14,074 |
2014-15 | 12,220 | 82.9% | 14,738 |
RACIAL HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS
| Convictions |
| Total |
2010-11 | 10,566 | 83.1% | 12,711 |
2011-12 | 9,933 | 84.4% | 11,774 |
2012-13 | 9,107 | 83.3% | 10,935 |
2013-14 | 10,069 | 85.2% | 11,818 |
2014-15 | 10,123 | 83.5% | 12,130 |
RELIGIOUS HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS
| Convictions |
| Total |
2010-11 | 472 | 83.4% | 566 |
2011-12 | 479 | 80.8% | 593 |
2012-13 | 308 | 77.2% | 399 |
2013-14 | 463 | 84.2% | 550 |
2014-15 | 557 | 83.8% | 665 |
HOMOPHOBIC & TRANSPHOBIC HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS (1)
| Convictions |
| Total |
2010-11 | 1,034 | 80.7% | 1,281 |
2011-12 | 951 | 78.7% | 1,208 |
2012-13 | 885 | 80.7% | 1,096 |
2013-14 | 913 | 80.7% | 1,132 |
2014-15 | 1,037 | 81.2% | 1,277 |
(1) A separate flag for Transphobic crime was introduced in December 2012 following the amendment to the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
DISABILITY HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS
| Convictions |
| Total |
2010-11 | 579 | 79.8% | 726 |
2011-12 | 480 | 77.3% | 621 |
2012-13 | 494 | 77.2% | 640 |
2013-14 | 470 | 81.9% | 574 |
2014-15 | 503 | 75.5% | 666 |
Data Source: CPS Management Information System
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what his policy is on expanding the Unduly Lenient Scheme; and if he will consult on any such changes before their introduction.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
The Government has committed to extending the scope of the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme and is carefully considering its approach.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of cases in each year since 2010 is delayed as a result of CPS files not being handed over to the defence in time before the start of proceedings.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain centrally held data on the number of cases delayed as a result of CPS files not being handed over to the defence in time before the start of proceedings. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur disproportionate cost.
The CPS is however committed to reducing unnecessary delays in the magistrates’ court, together with other CJS partners, through the Transforming Summary Justice initiative (TSJ). One of the principles of TSJ is to implement a more effective disclosure process to ensure the streamlining of disclosure to defence practitioners for first hearings.
The Better Case Management process (BCM) and the CPS Crown Court Strategy, which interlink with TSJ, also ensure that in cases destined for the Crown Court there is greater focus on Crown Court file build at the very outset to provide sufficient evidential material for the first hearing.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many fraud prosecutions were carried out in each CPS business area in England and Wales in each year since 2005.
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 under this category are provided in the accompanying attachment.