Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many people undertook an unpaid work placement in the Law Officers' Departments in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many such placements lasted for longer than one month.

GLD has offered the following number of work experience placements in each of the last five. None of them lasted for longer than one month. The placements were unpaid but assistance was provided with travel and subsistence costs. The placements were aimed either at promoting access to the legal profession, or to provide work experience to those from disadvantaged or black or minority ethnic backgrounds.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) does not undertake unpaid work placements.

The SFO does enable school age students to undertake work experience varying between 1 day and a week. SFO central records indicate that 26 students have completed such a placement over the past five years, as detailed in the following table, but none was for longer than one week.

There are no central records held in regard to unpaid work experience at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and to collect this information would be at a disproportionate cost.

Nobody has undertaken an unpaid work placement at AGO and HMCPSI within this timeframe.