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(asked on )
Questioner
Emily Thornberry Portrait
Emily Thornberry
(Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many cases were referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for pre-charge decision in 2013-14 and each of the five preceding years; how many of those cases were (a) subject to a decision to take no further action, (b) disposed of by way of a simple caution, (c) disposed of by way of a conditional caution, (d) disposed of by another type of out-of-court disposal, (e) prosecuted, (f) prosecuted successfully and (g) prosecuted successfully where the defendant contested the charge.

Answered by
Oliver Heald Portrait
Oliver Heald
This question was answered on 28th April 2014

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of suspects (not cases) referred to prosecutors for a pre-charge decision and the number of defendants prosecuted, following a decision to charge.

The table below shows, in each of the last five years for which figures are available, the total number of charging decisions made against suspects and the outcome of decisions where the decision was to (a) take no further action, (b) caution, (c) conditionally caution or (d) recommend another out of court disposal. In addition, the table shows the number of defendants prosecuted at magistrates' courts and at the Crown Court, by the CPS following a decision to charge (e), the number convicted (f) and the number convicted after a contested hearing (g). The table does not include other outcomes related to pre-charge decisions.

Total Pre-Charge

Decisions

(a) No Further

Action

(b) Simple

Caution

(c) Conditional

Caution

(d) Other Out of

Court Disposal

(e) Prosecuted

(f) Convictions

(g) Conviction

after Contest

2008-09

532,427

140,895

9,596

8,378

4,520

357,785

288,996

31,049

2009-10

477,522

127,502

8,040

8,229

3,088

326,051

259,017

28,777

2010-11

468,656

120,144

6,595

6,935

2,390

332,935

261,539

28,186

2011-12

369,564

89,104

4,275

4,982

1,377

282,970

223,504

26,042

2012-13

309,315

73,916

2,993

3,781

863

233,594

185,176

20,872

Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

The data reported in the above table are inclusive of suspects referred to the CPS for a charging decision and defendants prosecuted by the specialised national divisions of the CPS including, from April 2011, proceedings formerly dealt with by the prosecution functions of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health.

Since 2011 the Police have been able to charge some offences without referral to the CPS, as outlined in the DPP's Guidance on Charging which can be found on the CPS website at https://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/directors_guidance/dpp_guidance_5.html

Data for the annual year 2013-14 are not currently available.

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