Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many cases reviews have led to a reversal of a decision by the CPS in each year since the introduction of the Victims' Right to Review Scheme.

The Victim’s Right to Review Scheme (VRR) was launched by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in June 2013. The right to request a review of a CPS decision arises where decisions are made not to bring proceedings (i.e. at the pre-charge stage); to discontinue or withdraw the case ending all proceedings involving the victim; to offer no evidence in all proceedings relating to the victim; or asks the court to leave all charges in all proceedings to lie on file. These are defined as qualifying decisions. If an appeal is upheld it may be possible to bring proceedings against a suspect if the original decision is found, on review, to be wrong.

The table below shows the volume and proportion of VRR appeals and the number upheld during each of the last four years.