Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many people have been prosecuted for fraud each year in the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold data showing the number of defendants prosecuted for offences of fraud.
The official statistics relating to crime and policing are maintained by the Home Office and the official statistics relating to sentencing, criminal court proceedings, offenders brought to justice, the courts and the judiciary are maintained by the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps she is taking to improve her Department's response times to correspondence from members of the public.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This Government recognises the importance of responding to members of the public in an effective and timely manner, and the Cabinet Office published an updated Guide to Handling Correspondence for government departments and agencies on July 2021.
The guidance reasserts the standards for handling correspondence, including a 20 working day deadline for departments to respond to members of the public, criteria outlining when a response to a member of the public is required, and when a piece of correspondence from a member of the public should be transferred to another department. Following publication of the updated guidance, all departments have been reminded that they must follow the processes outlined in the guidance. The Attorney General’s Office always aims to respond to public correspondence within 20 working days where it falls within our remit.
My department's timeliness in responding to MP letters and Freedom of Information requests is among the best in the civil service. Since January 1st 2018, 80% of MP and Lords letters my department received were responded to within our target of 20 working days, and 99% of Freedom of Information requests were responded to within the statutory time limit. I am confident that public correspondence is responded to by my office in a similarly timely fashion and that every effort is made by my officials to respond as promptly as possible.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Attorney General:
What recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential effect of the end of the transition period on the rule of law.
Answered by Suella Braverman
The Government has been working hard to ensure a smooth end to the transition period that gives effect to the referendum result. It will continue to work with the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee and final decisions are expected in the coming days.
The duty of the Law Officers is to ensure that the Government acts lawfully at all times. I take that responsibility seriously, and that will not change after the end of the transition period, regardless of whether we reach negotiate a deal with the EU.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether he has been consulted by the Crown Prosecution Service about a charging decision in Operation Lydd.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service routinely provides the Law Officers with updates on cases and casework issues. In accordance with the practice adopted by previous Law Officers I do not usually comment on which individual cases are raised with me.