Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, with reference to the Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, published on 30 May 2025, which suppliers were used to provide the Black History Talk.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Any expenditure on equality, diversity and inclusion is conducted in line with Civil Service policies. With reference to the specific spend listed within the Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, published on 30 May 2025, the one hour Black History Talk took place as part of Black History Month in October 2024 at a cost of £150. It was delivered by a law lecturer, who has worked for a number of UK/US universities and law schools.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
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 the latest guidance removed the wording that in presenting such assessments, it is important to ensure negligible or discounted risks are not given undue weight.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
It is evident that all professional advice should avoid placing undue emphasis on risks that are negligible.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many people have been charged with human trafficking offences in relation to small boat crossings in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Human trafficking flagged prosecutions data, which includes offences committed under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and comparable offences committed prior to 2015, is published each quarter. The latest information was published on 17 July and can be found here. It is not possible to distil from this data whether any of these cases involved people who arrived in the UK on a small boat without conducting a manual review of cases which would incur a disproportionate cost.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) considers all cases referred to it by law enforcement. It has increased prosecutions for immigration related offences since the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 came into force, which introduced a new offence of illegal arrival and increased sentencing for illegal entry and related offences and facilitation offences contained in the Immigration Act 1971.
Organised crime groups are highly adaptable and are exploiting people for gain with no regard for their safety or our border controls. A multi-agency response is key to tackling this. The CPS plays an important part in the whole system response to organised immigration crime in the Border Security Command. The CPS has also increased engagement with overseas partners to maximise opportunities to collaborate on information and evidence gathering, to prosecute more swiftly.
Under the Modern Slavery Action Plan, the Home Office has commissioned research to better understand the links between organised immigration crime and modern slavery.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether guidance has been issued by the (a) Law Officers and (b) Government Legal Service on the (i) Venice Commission and (ii) Rule of Law Checklist since July 2024.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Since July 2024, no guidance has been issued in regard to the (i) Venice Commission or (ii) Rule of Law Checklist by the Law Officers or Government Legal Profession.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what steps her Department is taking to increase prosecution rates for cases involving coercive and controlling behaviour.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Domestic Abuse (DA) causes severe and lasting harm to victims, particularly controlling or coercive behaviour (CCB) which can permeate all aspects of their lives. Bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice is a core priority for this Government and supports our landmark ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG).
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is committed to securing prosecutions for CCB. The number of CCB cases to have reached a first hearing in the magistrates’ court has increased year on year since this legislation was introduced: increasing from 5 cases in 2015-16 to 5,254 cases in 2024-25.
However, we know that more must be done to improve the identification and understanding of this complex form of offending. To support this, the CPS has integrated a CCB case study into its face-to-face domestic abuse training, which has now been delivered to 3133 prosecutors.
The CPS and National Police Chiefs’ Council launched the DA Joint Justice Plan in November 2024. This includes a shared commitment between police and CPS to improve the identification of behaviour-driven offending such as CCB. It also aims to ensure that victims are heard, supported, and protected throughout their journey in the criminal justice process.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prosecutions for corporate manslaughter there have been in each of the past three years, and how many of those prosecutions led to convictions.
Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General
There have been 13 prosecutions for corporate manslaughter in the years 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25. 10 of those prosecutions were successful and led to a conviction.
A breakdown of each year is listed below:
2022-23: 6 prosecutions, 6 convictions (1 guilty plea and 5 convictions after trial).
2023-24: 4 prosecutions, 2 convictions (1 guilty plea and 1 conviction after trial), 2 unsuccessful (1 no evidence offered after trial began and 1 left to lie on file).
2024-25: 3 prosecutions, 2 convictions (both convictions after trial), 1 unsuccessful (no evidence offered after trial began).
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prosecutions there have been relating to the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017, and how many of those prosecutions led to convictions.
Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General
The Metropolitan Police Service are still conducting their investigations into the fire at Grenfell Tower. As a result, as of August 2025, there have been no prosecutions for offences directly related to the circumstances surrounding the event.
The Crown Prosecution Service continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police Service on the investigations and to provide advice on applicable charges.
Any charges are not expected to be announced until late 2026, with prosecutions currently due to start in mid-2027.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government what their position is on seeking super-injunctions to restrict reporting of public policy issues.
Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General
The filing of an application for a super-injunction on behalf of His Majesty’s Government is recognised as a truly exceptional measure and would be justified only by the most compelling evidence.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what guidance has been posted on the Government Legal Service intranet since July 2024.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government Legal Service no longer exists and has been replaced by the Government Legal Profession (GLP).
The GLP produces guidance to assist government lawyers as they work closely with ministers, policy makers and other professionals.
Lawyers across government have an important role in helping the Government deliver its manifesto and run effective public services.
Since July 2024, the following guidance has been published on the GLP intranet:
17/10/2024
Working with Legislation - Westlaw Edge UK
11/2024
Attorney General’s Guidance on Legal Risk
02/2025
Knowledge Sharing Across the GLP
Legal Professional Privilege
Being an Effective Government lawyer
12/02/2025
Legal Professional Privilege Guidance - Sharing Advice Across the GLP
20/05/2025
New legal awareness slides on producing Statutory Instruments
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, with reference to the Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, published on 30 May 2025, which suppliers were used to provide the LGBTi internal conference.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The LGBTI conference was a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) event, and the supplier used to provide venue services was Calder Conferences.
Calder Conferences offers venue solutions for meetings, conferences, and other events, and works with various government departments.
The CPS has a contract with Calder Conferences through the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Framework for Travel and Venue Solutions. This framework allows CPS to access venues for meetings and conferences as needed.
The contract was signed in 2024 under the previous government for two years, with an option to extend for one additional year until February 2027, as is standard across government departments when contracting with conference suppliers. As standard, government contracts are routinely reviewed.