Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what assessments he has made of the implications of the power of the (a) CPS to take over and drop private prosecutions and (b) courts to award costs against a person who initiated an unsuccessful private prosecution for the effective and equitable working of the justice system.

Parliament has specifically preserved the right of an individual to bring a private prosecution and at the same time given power to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to take over such prosecutions.

The CPS will take over and drop a private prosecution where either the evidential or public interest stage of the test to prosecute set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors is not met. Full guidance can be found on its web-site: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/private_prosecutions/ .

The power to take over and stop a private prosecution is a safeguard against the right being used in circumstances where the test for a prosecution is not met.

The decision to award costs against a private prosecutor is a matter for the court’s discretion depending on the circumstances of the case.