Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of cases involving the use of offensive weapons.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

This Government’s priority is to keep our streets safe, that is why we have committed to halve knife crime in a decade as part of our Safer Streets Mission.

As well as committing to more police officers and police community support officers on our streets, the Government has taken swift action to tackle knife crime by creating new offences and penalties to deter the possession and sale of these barbaric weapons, including implementing the ban on zombie-style knives and machetes, and bringing forward plans to ban ninja swords later this year.

As Solicitor General, I superintend the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS prosecutes knife crime robustly, providing early investigative advice on offending to build strong cases and deliver justice for victims.

Working closely with police forces in Merseyside, Thames Valley, West Midlands and Sussex, the CPS recently completed a two-year pilot of Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs). SVROs, which can be applied for by the CPS, provide police with the power to search a person subject to an order for bladed articles or offensive weapons in a public space. The pilot has already yielded positive results. For example, in Merseyside, the CPS has secured more than 270 SVROs against offenders who posed a significant risk to the public. In the same region, over the past year knife crime has decreased by 6.5% and violent crime has reduced by more than 32% in the areas identified as hotspots for antisocial behaviour and serious violence. An evaluation report about the pilot is due in summer 2025, ahead of a decision by the Government to roll the powers out nationally.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2025 to Question 45656 on Government Departments: Legal Opinion, for what reason changes were made to the previous edition; and if she will publish the previous edition.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

In November 2024, the Attorney General issued amended guidance for assessing legal risk across government to raise standards for calibrating legality and to ensure government lawyers can give full and frank advice to the Government.

The updated legal risk guidance is focused on supporting Ministers in making policy and operational decisions.

It does not give government lawyers any form of veto – decisions are for policymakers – a point the Attorney General’s guidance makes plain in express terms and a point the Attorney General has made clear publicly.

Many elements remain unchanged from previous versions of the guidance, and it retains the same three elements of the risk assessment.

All versions of the legal risk guidance were published at the time they were amended.

The 2015 version remains available here: Legal_Risk_Guidance_-_Amended_July_2015.pdf.

The 2022 version of the guidance is not currently available, but the Attorney General’s Office can provide a copy.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of cases involving use of offensive weapons in Slough.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

This Government’s priority is to keep our streets safe, that is why we have committed to halve knife crime in a decade as part of our Safer Streets Mission.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecuted over 1,000 knife crime offences in 2023-24 in conjunction with Thames Valley Police.

Working closely with police in Thames Valley, the CPS recently completed a two-year pilot of Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs). SVROs, which can be applied for by the CPS, provide police with the power to search a person subject to an order for bladed articles or offensive weapons in a public space. An evaluation report about the pilot is due in summer 2025, ahead of a decision by the Government to roll the powers out nationally.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, how many cyclists have been prosecuted under the provisions of Section 35 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 in each year since 2000.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The safety of our roads is a key priority for this government.

We have amended the Crime and Policing Bill to provide for new offences and penalties for dangerous cycling, updating legislation that is over 160 years old, to ensure that the tiny minority who recklessly disregard others face the full force of the law.

Cases of causing death or serious injury by dangerous or careless driving have usually been prosecuted under section 35 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (OAPA 1861), but this offence applies to any person ‘having charge of any carriage or other vehicle’ and therefore does not solely apply to cyclists.

The earliest data held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for prosecutions of offences under s. 35 OAPA 1861 is from 2005. Between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2024, the CPS authorised charges for 362 offences of causing injury by wanton and furious driving contrary to s. 35.

Of these charges, the CPS is unable to identify which offences involved defendants who were cyclists, without a manual review of each case, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, if they will make it their policy to not provide (a) translation and (b) interpretation for speakers of non-UK languages for services provided by their Department.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.

Regarding services provided by my department in particular, the Attorney General’s Office does not provide (a) translation and (b) interpretation for speakers of non-UK languages.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to increase prosecution rates for violence against women and girls in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East, and (e) England.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a national emergency and through the Safer Streets Mission, this Government has committed to halve VAWG within a decade. A key part will be delivering effective prosecutions.

As Solicitor General, I superintend the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS is continuing to transform its approach to adult rape prosecution through the implementation of their national operating model, based on robust evidence from Operation Soteria, resulting in substantial increases in referral, charge, and prosecution volumes for adult rape.

The Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan, launched with policing in November 2024, has also led to better partnership with policing and modest initial increases in domestic abuse referrals, setting a strong foundation for future improvements.

Work has also begun to deliver the CPS’ VAWG Strategy for 2025-30, ensuring prosecutors have the right skills and tools to prosecute VAWG effectively.

In the Northumbria police force area in 2023-24, the CPS prosecuted 1,840 domestic abuse flagged cases (an increase from 1,631 in 2022-23), 124 rape flagged cases (an increase from 86 in 2022-23), and 389 sexual offences (excluding rape flagged) cases (an increase from 375 in 2022-23).

CPS North East (which covers Hexham, Northumberland and Newcastle) was a pilot area for Operation Soteria and early implementors of the rape national model. They are now a pilot area for the Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan proactively encouraging collaborative working to improve the quality and timeliness of decision-making in domestic abuse cases.

The same area has also worked closely with local forces to restructure governance structures to drive up performance, including regular scrutiny panels on domestic abuse and rape cases attended by local Independent Sexual Violence Advisers and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to increase the number of apprenticeship starts in her Department.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across all government departments to break down barriers to opportunity. This includes supporting the Government's commitment to 2,000 digital apprenticeships through its TechTrack scheme by 2030 to improve digital skills and drive improvements and efficiency in public services.

Additionally, a new cross-government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, the ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA), will see new apprentices kickstart their careers, across various departments, starting from January 2026.

In addition, my department continues to offer apprenticeship opportunities each year. Given the size of the Attorney General’s Office (approximately 60 staff) this number can vary. We currently have one apprentice.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of fast-tracking Crown Prosecution Service advice in (a) politically sensitive and (b) time-critical investigations.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

It is vital that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is rightly operationally independent from Government, makes decisions as quickly as possible after a careful consideration of all relevant facts. As Solicitor General, I review and monitor CPS performance including timeliness of charging decisions on a quarterly basis. All prosecution decisions are taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, and the CPS must always aim to make their decisions as quickly and efficiently as possible.

It is right that any case review is undertaken with the utmost care and, whereas some cases may be straightforward, others will have large volumes of evidence that can take time for investigators to identify and gather, often with the support of investigative advice from the prosecutor. That evidence then needs to be reviewed by the prosecutor, often with complex legal issues to resolve. While every case will be different, prosecutors must be even-handed in their approach, and they have a duty to protect the rights of suspects and defendants, while providing the best possible service to victims.

This Government is committed to reducing delays across the system and driving forward wider improvements and efficiencies to improve outcomes and secure swift and effective justice for victims, witnesses, suspects, defendants and the public.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, how many prosecutions were brought against the biological parents of children in foster care for incidents involving (a) inappropriate, (b) threatening and (c) abusive contact with their child’s foster parents since May 2024.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Threatening or abusive behaviour can amount to an offence under the Public Order Act 1986. To establish whether defendants charged with Public Order Act offences committed these offences against the foster carers of their children would require a manual review of case files and this would be at disproportionate cost.

Management information is held showing the number of offences charged by way of Section 4 (fear or provocation of violence), Section 4A (intentional harassment, alarm or distress) and Section 5 (harassment, alarm or distress) in which a prosecution commenced during the period from 1st May 2024 to 31st December 2024. The table below shows the number of these offences during that period.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants prosecuted and convicted for offences created by the Public Order Act 1986.

The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data is held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.

There is no offence of inappropriate behaviour.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the decision of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16, whether they plan to issue guidance to the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure that all people involved in a case are referred to by their biological sex in paperwork, records and orally.

Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are updating their Code of Practice and once it has been submitted, the Government will engage with the EHRC to ensure it provides the certainty and clarity service providers need, in line with the Supreme Court ruling. How court proceedings will be dealt with under the Court’s ruling will be a matter for the judiciary.

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