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Written Question
Knives: Crime
Friday 18th February 2022

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many offenders involved in violent knife crime have engaged in a charge bargain to lessen their sentence in each of the last three years.

Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of people illegally carrying knives who have been charged with the offence or offences of manslaughter. This information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.

There is no system of plea bargaining in courts in England and Wales. It may be appropriate for a plea to be accepted to alternative charges in some cases. However, the CPS do not capture any data on cases where this occurs centrally; therefore, the information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost. The CPS uses the Code for Crown Prosecutors to decide the charge and the Attorney General’s guidelines on acceptance of pleas, in deciding whether to accept a guilty plea to a lesser charge. In both its Legal Guidance on Offensive Weapons and the Knife Crime Practical Guidance, the CPS state that the weapon offence should be charged in addition to the substantive offence.


Written Question
Knives: Crime
Friday 18th February 2022

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many people illegally carrying knives have been charged for manslaughter in the last five years.

Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of people illegally carrying knives who have been charged with the offence or offences of manslaughter. This information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.

There is no system of plea bargaining in courts in England and Wales. It may be appropriate for a plea to be accepted to alternative charges in some cases. However, the CPS do not capture any data on cases where this occurs centrally; therefore, the information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost. The CPS uses the Code for Crown Prosecutors to decide the charge and the Attorney General’s guidelines on acceptance of pleas, in deciding whether to accept a guilty plea to a lesser charge. In both its Legal Guidance on Offensive Weapons and the Knife Crime Practical Guidance, the CPS state that the weapon offence should be charged in addition to the substantive offence.


Written Question
Food: Advertising
Tuesday 15th December 2020

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the legal basis to extending the scope of the public consultation for an online advertising ban of foods high in fat, salt or sugar to communication and marketing restrictions to brands’ and companies’ own websites and social media channels.

Answered by Michael Ellis

This policy is led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The Law Officers regularly meet ministerial colleagues to discuss important issues of common interest.

However, it is a fundamental and longstanding principle of our system of government that the fact that the Law Officers have advised (or not advised) and the content of any such advice is, by convention, not disclosed outside Government, without their consent.


Written Question
Terrorism: Prosecutions
Thursday 4th July 2019

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what recent discussions he has had with the Director of Public Prosecutions on ensuring more effective prosecutions of cases involving individuals supporting terrorism abroad.

Answered by Geoffrey Cox

The CPS has a strong record of bringing successful prosecutions in terrorism cases, and works closely with Counter Terrorism policing and partners to help build strong cases.

Where individuals provide support to terrorism abroad, for example by funding terrorism, they should expect to be investigated by the police and prosecuted by the CPS if the evidential and public interest tests in the Code for Crown Prosecutors are met.

Where crimes are committed abroad, Section 17 of the Terrorism Act 2006 provides the courts with extra-territorial jurisdiction in relation to a number of terrorism offences so that if an individual were to commit one of these offences in a foreign country, they would be liable under UK law in the same way as if they had committed the offence in the UK. As the nature of terrorism has evolved, section 17 has been amended to include further offences. The CPS strongly supported these legislative provisions to strengthen our ability to prosecute offenders.


Written Question
Forced Marriage: Prosecutions
Wednesday 10th April 2019

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what steps the CPS is taking to increase the rate of prosecution of people who are responsible for forced marriages.

Answered by Robert Buckland

The CPS takes the prosecution of forced marriage allegations very seriously. Each CPS Area has an identified prosecutor to lead on or deal with these cases. The CPS keeps its legal guidance under review to assist prosecutors to meet these challenges. This will shortly be revised to address cases where the victim lacks capacity to consent to marriage because of a condition affecting their mental functioning. At a national level there exists a joint police and CPS forced marriage working group, which has developed a protocol for investigations and prosecutions as well as training for prosecutors.


Written Question
Knives: Crime
Wednesday 10th April 2019

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what recent discussions he has had with the CPS on the effectiveness of prosecution in cases involving knife crime.

Answered by Robert Buckland

The CPS continues to prosecute knife crime robustly. The Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and I have participated in discussions on delivering the Government’s Serious Violence Strategy. Both the CPS and AGO were represented by the Solicitor General at the Prime Minister’s recent Serious Youth Violence Summit between 1st and 4th April, and will be represented on the Prime Ministers Serious Violence Implementation Taskforce by the Law Officers.


Written Question
Crimes of Violence: Acids
Tuesday 9th April 2019

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what recent discussions he has had with the CPS on the effectiveness of prosecutions in cases involving acid attacks.

Answered by Robert Buckland

The Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and I have participated in discussions on delivering the Government’s Serious Violence Strategy, including tackling acid attacks effectively. We will also both be involved with the Prime Minister’s new Serious Violence Strategy Implementation Taskforce. The CPS continues to successfully bring these horrendous crimes to justice. Where there is sufficient evidence to prosecute, there is a strong public interest in doing so.


Written Question
Crimes of Violence: Young People
Tuesday 9th April 2019

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what the role of the CPS in tackling serious violent crime amongst young people is.

Answered by Robert Buckland

On 9 April 2018, the Government published a new Serious Violence Strategy to take action to address serious violence and in particular the recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide. The Serious Violence Strategy stresses the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes of serious violence and to provide young people with the skills and resilience to lead productive lives free from violence. The CPS is working with its cross-government partners to deliver the Strategy, and welcomes a public health prevention strategy relating to serious violence reduction.


Written Question
Female Genital Mutilation: Prosecutions
Tuesday 9th April 2019

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what recent discussions he has had with the CPS on the effectiveness of prosecution in cases involving female genital mutilation.

Answered by Robert Buckland

The CPS is determined to bring those responsible for Female Genital Mutilation to justice, and recently obtained the first conviction for such a case, in London. CPS prosecutors work closely with the police from the outset of these cases to address the challenges they raise, including legal questions concerning jurisdiction and expert evidence, and have assigned FGM leads for every CPS Area. Whilst prosecution alone will not end this appalling crime, this first conviction sends out a strong message that FGM is child abuse and that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.


Written Question
Courts: Appeals
Tuesday 22nd December 2015

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what the cost to the public purse has been since December 2014 of the Government defending cases which have been appealed to the European Court of Justice following a ruling in the Royal Courts or the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

Answered by Robert Buckland

Cases are not appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union from UK courts but they can ask for preliminary rulings on a point of European law from the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The amount of disbursements paid by the Government for Counsel’s fees and for travel and accommodation costs for hearings in requests for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union from United Kingdom Courts since December 2014 was £33,288.42.

This includes requests for preliminary rulings made by UK Tribunals, but not other legal proceedings in the CJEU in which the UK Courts and Tribunals have played no part. It does not include disbursements incurred but not yet paid, the cost of government lawyers and other staff involved in these cases within the Government, or costs incurred in relation to the domestic aspects of the proceedings, which are not centrally recorded.