Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what the average time was between the Crown Prosecution Service receiving a referral and making a charging decision in the most recent period for which data is available.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not collect data showing the average time from receiving a referral to making a legal charging decision. Legal charging decisions are decisions to authorise a charge, to take no further action or recommend and out of court disposal.

However, data is collected showing the average time from the first police referral to the CPS making the decision to authorise a charge. This data is published on the CPS website and on the CJS Delivery Dashboard and shows that during the calendar year 2021, it took on average 39 days from referral to charge.