Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, with reference to the Crown Prosecution Service Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023: Data Analysis, published on 29 September 2023, what steps she plans to take to help tackle the ethnicity disproportionality outlined in that data.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As Minister Sackman has set out in other substantive answers on the the matter of joint enterprise, we are aware of concerns about the impact of joint enterprise doctrine on defendants and their families. That is why more broadly the Government continues to keep the law in this area under review.
With regard to the role of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), following publication of the Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023, the CPS held two national scrutiny panels on joint enterprise, with input from external stakeholders with relevant expertise and experience, to review the findings of the pilot and scrutinise joint enterprise casework. This review included a national scrutiny panel held on 1 February 2024 which focussed on joint enterprise cases where evidence of gang association was a feature.
The pilot found ethnic disparities in the caseload, but it was not possible to draw strong conclusions from the analysis due to the relatively small sample size (190 cases involving 680 defendants).
The CPS updated its case management system to commence a full national monitoring scheme in 2024. This monitors all homicide and attempted homicide prosecutions brought on a joint enterprise basis and will report annually. The CPS will publish a report on the monitoring data collected during the 2024/25 financial year in the summer.
Self-identified defendant ethnicity data from the police or other investigative authorities, subject to varying levels of error and omission at local levels, is uploaded to the CPS’ case management system. This can record the ethnicity category “W3 Gypsy and Irish Traveller” in accordance with criminal justice system data standards.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, with reference to the Crown Prosecution Service Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023 whether the scheme is monitoring cases involving (a) Romani, (b) Roma and (c) Irish Travellers; and when will the scheme will issue its first report.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As Minister Sackman has set out in other substantive answers on the the matter of joint enterprise, we are aware of concerns about the impact of joint enterprise doctrine on defendants and their families. That is why more broadly the Government continues to keep the law in this area under review.
With regard to the role of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), following publication of the Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023, the CPS held two national scrutiny panels on joint enterprise, with input from external stakeholders with relevant expertise and experience, to review the findings of the pilot and scrutinise joint enterprise casework. This review included a national scrutiny panel held on 1 February 2024 which focussed on joint enterprise cases where evidence of gang association was a feature.
The pilot found ethnic disparities in the caseload, but it was not possible to draw strong conclusions from the analysis due to the relatively small sample size (190 cases involving 680 defendants).
The CPS updated its case management system to commence a full national monitoring scheme in 2024. This monitors all homicide and attempted homicide prosecutions brought on a joint enterprise basis and will report annually. The CPS will publish a report on the monitoring data collected during the 2024/25 financial year in the summer.
Self-identified defendant ethnicity data from the police or other investigative authorities, subject to varying levels of error and omission at local levels, is uploaded to the CPS’ case management system. This can record the ethnicity category “W3 Gypsy and Irish Traveller” in accordance with criminal justice system data standards.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, with reference to the Crown Prosecution Service Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023, whether the CPS convened a scrutiny panel in January 2024 as planned that focused on joint enterprise cases where evidence of gang association was a feature.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
As Minister Sackman has set out in other substantive answers on the the matter of joint enterprise, we are aware of concerns about the impact of joint enterprise doctrine on defendants and their families. That is why more broadly the Government continues to keep the law in this area under review.
With regard to the role of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), following publication of the Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023, the CPS held two national scrutiny panels on joint enterprise, with input from external stakeholders with relevant expertise and experience, to review the findings of the pilot and scrutinise joint enterprise casework. This review included a national scrutiny panel held on 1 February 2024 which focussed on joint enterprise cases where evidence of gang association was a feature.
The pilot found ethnic disparities in the caseload, but it was not possible to draw strong conclusions from the analysis due to the relatively small sample size (190 cases involving 680 defendants).
The CPS updated its case management system to commence a full national monitoring scheme in 2024. This monitors all homicide and attempted homicide prosecutions brought on a joint enterprise basis and will report annually. The CPS will publish a report on the monitoring data collected during the 2024/25 financial year in the summer.
Self-identified defendant ethnicity data from the police or other investigative authorities, subject to varying levels of error and omission at local levels, is uploaded to the CPS’ case management system. This can record the ethnicity category “W3 Gypsy and Irish Traveller” in accordance with criminal justice system data standards.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what legal advice she has sought on the UK's military assistance to the US in Yemen.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Law Officers’ Convention applies to advice which may or may not have been given by the Law Officers, or requested of the Law Officers, and the Convention applies to your question.
The Law Officers’ Convention can be found at paragraph 21.27 of 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 [updated on 6 November 2024]. The purpose of this convention is to enable the Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.”
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, with reference to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023, whether the CPS has updated its case management system to flag joint enterprise cases for detailed manual assessment.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
In early 2024, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) updated its case management system to enable a new national ‘flag’ to be applied to prosecutions for homicide and attempted homicide brought on a joint enterprise basis. Each prosecution also now receives an enhanced level of supervision from a case management panel, chaired by a senior legal manager.
The CPS will publish a report on the monitoring data collected during the 2024/25 financial year in the summer.