Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many private prosecutions have been brought by (a) the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, (b) the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, (c) the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and (d) individual private citizens in England and Wales in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

The information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. Our case management and management information systems do not hold the level of detail to provide a total figure for each of the last three years for all of these categories of private prosecution. Providing this information would require the examination of individual case files held locally at courts.