Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of organised crime in North East Hertfordshire constituency.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The cost of organised crime is pervasive, whether this is impacting our economy or exploiting the vulnerable. This week the government has launched a crackdown on shops on our high streets, as part of Operation Machinize. These shops are fronts for serious organised crime, money laundering and illegal working, risking the future of the British High Street.

Law enforcement work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to dismantle criminal networks across the UK including in Hertfordshire, and relentlessly pursue those who use dirty money for personal gain.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of people smugglers.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

People smuggling is a deplorable transnational crime, and anyone involved in this dangerous trade will face the full force of the law. The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill is nearing Royal Assent and will give law enforcement agencies the toughest powers yet to take down criminal smuggling gangs

The Bill will introduce new offences to help tackle offending, such as criminalising the creation of material advertising unlawful immigration services online, the endangerment offence, and the power to seize electronic devices. It will also implement interim Serious Crime Prevention Orders to disrupt and deter organised crime, including people smuggling.

Due to the cross-border nature of these crimes, international collaboration remains essential to disrupt criminal supply chains and networks. This Government is working hard to fix the borders crisis, which is why we agreed a landmark deal with France, where we have returned migrants, as well as increasing international cooperation with Germany and other countries. In line with this, the CPS has increased cooperation with international partners to improve information sharing and evidence gathering for prosecutions.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme can deliver justice for the victims of some of the most serious crimes, including murder and rape.

During 2024, my office dealt with requests to review 831 sentences. So far during 2025, we have already exceeded that figure, receiving 846 requests. Of those, 102 cases have been considered by the Court of Appeal, and in 59% of those cases the sentence has been increased.

The ULS scheme continues to be effective by allowing the public to have a voice in the sentencing of offenders, and helping victims of the most abhorrent crimes to receive justice.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to reports that a former client of the Attorney General, Mahdi Al Harati, is bringing legal proceeding against them, what steps they have taken to avoid any conflicts of interest arising in this case.

Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General

It is an important legal principle, as confirmed by the Bar Council, that “barristers do not choose their clients, nor do they associate themselves with their clients’ opinions or behaviour by virtue of representing them”.

Law Officers, by their experience and professional nature have an extensive legal background and may have previously been involved in a wide number of past cases. That is why there is a robust system for considering and managing any conflicts that may arise, in line with the professional obligations of lawyers.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has an established and rigorous process for identifying and dealing with conflicts, and potential conflicts, that arise from the Law Officers’ past practice. That check will necessarily include consideration of matters in which a Law Officer was instructed before taking up their current role. That process sits against the backdrop of every lawyer’s professional obligation to be alert to, and actively manage, any situation that might give rise to a potential or actual conflict.

This rigorous process for identifying and managing conflicts sits alongside the system relating to ministerial interests, overseen by the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards. Both the Director General of the AGO and the Independent Adviser were provided with the Attorney General’s list of conflicts following his appointment.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 81790 on Democracy, what her Department's budget is for direct engagement with (a) civil society groups and (b) young people; and which organisations her Department has met.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

There is no single budget ring-fenced for direct engagement with (a) civil society groups and (b) young people within the Attorney General's Office as a department. Ministers and officials meet with many civil society groups and young people as you would expect, in line with workstream priorities, and these are declared and publicised in the normal way. For example, the Attorney General was pleased to attend a recent event at Cumberland Lodge to engage with young people learning about human rights and looks forward to undertaking a series of school visits in due course.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October to Question 77946 on Intestacy: Internet, what the timetable is for the review of the future publication of the Bona Vacantia unclaimed estates list.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The review into the future publication of the Bona Vacantia unclaimed estates list is nearing completion, and publication will remain suspended until it has concluded.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help increase prosecution rates in cases of violence against women and girls.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

This government is committed to halving violence against women and girls. This is my number

one priority as Solicitor General.

The CPS’s focus on tackling VAWG is driving an increase in charges across a range of VAWG

offences.

For adult rape prosecution, the CPS continues to transform its approach through the

implementation of their National Operating Model, based on robust academic evidence from

Operation Soteria. Through this work, there has been substantial increases in referral, charge,

and prosecution volumes for adult rape.

Similarly for Domestic Abuse (DA), the CPS and NPCC launched the DA Joint Justice Plan in

November 2024 with the aim to improve partnership working between investigators and

prosecutors, and over the last year this has led to increases in charge volumes by 10% and

conviction volumes by 7%.

To address the increasing complexity of VAWG offending, and holistic needs of victims, work is

ongoing to deliver the activities within the CPS’s VAWG Strategy for 2025-2030. This will ensure

that prosecutors have the right skills and tools to prosecute VAWG effectively leading to a positive

impact on prosecution rates.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders in the North East on the Rape Action Plan.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

In July 2025, His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) published its

inspection report on early advice and pre-charge decision-making in adult rape cases. In

response to the report’s recommendations, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is implementing

a new Rape Action Plan.

The Plan aims to ensure that the quality of the CPS’s rape casework is of a consistently high

standard, with a focus on providing enhanced oversight of legal decision-making, supporting and

upskilling prosecutors, and increasing public confidence. The Plan is still under development and

has not yet been finalised.

Following the publication of the HMCPSI report, the CPS convened an engagement session with

national stakeholders from the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector to discuss the

findings and outline the actions the CPS would be taking under a new Rape Action Plan. The

CPS continues to engage regularly with these stakeholders through its established consultation

group. At a local level, CPS Areas maintain a range of engagement mechanisms, including local

scrutiny panels and dedicated Inclusion and Community Engagement Managers. Both national

and local channels will be used to keep relevant stakeholders informed as the Rape Action Plan

progresses.

The CPS remains resolute in its determination to increase the number of rape cases capable of

being taken to court each year, so that more victims – irrespective of their background and

circumstances – can see justice. It greatly values the expertise and insights of external

stakeholders and is grateful for their continued engagement as it works towards this ambition.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Victims’ Right to Review scheme.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Victims’ Right to Review (VRR) Scheme is an important safeguard in England and Wales which enables victims to seek a review of certain CPS decisions not to start a prosecution or to stop a prosecution.

Access to the VRR Scheme has been deliberately designed to be as simple as possible, with no reasons or justification for requesting a review required.

To ensure victims are aware of their entitlements, in all correspondence where a decision is taken to stop a case, and the victim is eligible to request a review under the VRR scheme, information is provided about the VRR scheme and how it can be accessed.

The CPS also has published and keeps under regular review guidance which sets out how the scheme works, including what decisions can be reviewed, who can request a review, how to request a review and the stages of review.

The CPS publishes data showing the number of VRR requests it received and the total number of decisions which were overturned as a result.

In addition to the VRR scheme, there is also a VRR pilot being trialled by CPS West Midlands which was launched in June 2025. Under the pilot, survivors of rape or serious sexual abuse will be offered the right to request a review by a different prosecutor before their case is dropped. The results of this pilot will soon be evaluated.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, how much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Department and its arm’s length bodies have not incurred any expenditure on the installation of electric vehicle charging facilities since 4 July 2024.

The Department and its arm’s length bodies have not purchased any electric vehicles since 4 July 2024.

The Department has not made an estimate of the difference in capital cost between the electric vehicles purchased and comparable petrol or diesel models.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, with reference to the Oral Statement of 15 September 2025 on Official Secrets Act, whether the Crown Prosecution Service made a request for evidence to be submitted from the Government that the (a) Chinese Government and (b) Chinese Communist Party was an enemy of the UK, in the context of prosecution under Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

While the outcome in this case is of course very disappointing, I am also confident that the National Security Act 2023, which was not in force at the time of the conduct concerned, now provides us with enhanced powers that properly reflect the modern-day threats we face.

There is now a wealth of material and evidence, including from the Attorney General, which has been provided to the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy’s inquiry into these matters and which cover the requests for evidence and responses provided.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, how many people have been prosecuted for the dangerous use of fireworks each year for the past five years.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Offences relating to the dangerous use or misuse of fireworks can be prosecuted under Section

80 of the Explosives Act 1875 (throw or light a firework in a highway, street or public place),

Section 131(1(d)) and Section 161(2(b)) of Highways Act 1980 (light a fire/discharge a

firework/firearm within 50 feet of a public highway), Section 28 of the Town and Police Clauses

Act 1847 (throw a firework/missile/discharge a firearm/light a fire in the street) and Section 2 of

the Football (Offences) Act 1991 (throw a missile onto a football pitch or adjacent area).

Management information is held by the CPS showing the number of offences in which a

prosecution commenced during each of the last five years for the above legislation.

Of these charges the CPS is unable to identify which offences specifically involved fireworks as

opposed to other types of missiles, without a manual review of each case, which would incur

disproportionate cost.

There is no indication of the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at

the time of finalisation. It is often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than

one offence.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Crown Prosecution Service's performance in the North East.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

CPS North East is making measurable progress. In the twelve months to June 2025, CPS North East prosecuted 26,187 defendants with a conviction rate of 86.2%, which is comfortably above the national average of 82.9%.

The below table provides details of the volume suspects charged by CPS North East and the charge rate as a proportion of all legal decisions:

The following table provides the number of defendants convicted in the North East, the total number of defendants prosecuted and the conviction rate:

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, how much the Serious Fraud Office has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Almost all the SFO’s cases are connected to other jurisdictions and often include overseas suspects or witnesses and involve significant amounts of evidential material. This means that it needs to make use of translation services in its work. We regularly monitor expenditure to ensure best value for money for taxpayers.

Its expenditure on translation services is contained in the following table.

The SFO has not made use of any interpretation services in the last five financial years.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what discussions her Department has had with other Government departments on proposals to make first cousin marriage unlawful.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

By long-standing convention, the fact that I, or a fellow Law Officer, may have advised or not advised, as well as the content of our advice, is not disclosed outside government.

As explained in Erskine May: “By long-standing convention, observed by successive Governments, the fact of, and substance of advice from, the law officers of the Crown is not disclosed outside government. This convention is referred to in paragraph [5.14] of the Ministerial Code. The purpose of this convention is to enable the Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence."

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, with reference to the Oral Statement of 15 September 2025 on Official Secrets Act, Official Report, col 1188-1189, whether the Law Officers have had discussions with representatives of the House of Commons on the potential merits of private prosecution.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Law Officers are aware of the possibility of a private prosecution, but have not engaged in discussions on its potential merits with any representative of the House of Commons.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, how many (a) active and (b) concluded cases the Government Legal Department has handled relating to legal challenges against the one-in, one-out migrant returns scheme; and what the total cost of that litigation has been.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The UK-France Treaty is an innovative pilot designed to deter illegal migration across the Channel. Litigation related to this pilot was anticipated and we are concentrating resources on robustly defending this so that removals can continue as planned. As of 28 November, 153 individuals have been returned to France through this agreement.

Operational details on the pilot are sensitive, and we will not be disclosing such information as it could inadvertently assist the organised immigration crime gangs that are behind small boats crossings.

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