Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many victims have exercised the right to review a Crown Prosecution Service decision not to prosecute; and in how many of those cases the decision was changed.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Victims’ Right to Review scheme came into effect on the 5^th June 2013. Between the date the scheme commenced and the 30^th September 2014 the CPS reviewed 2,023 appeals of which 267 (13.2%) were upheld.

The number of decisions overturned represents a very small fraction of all the decisions made by CPS lawyers. During the period from 1st June 2013 to 30th September 2014, the CPS finalised 168,703 cases with a qualifying decision. This means that 0.16% of cases that would qualify under the scheme resulted in an upheld Appeal.