Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Lefroy Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Attorney-General]

As I understand the matter, the form exists so that two doctors may make an independent evaluation of whether the abortion is necessary for the health and well-being of the woman concerned. It seems to me, as a matter of logic, that that requires a conscious act of assessment. I leave it to the hon. Gentleman to work out whether a conscious act of assessment is going to take place on the pre-signed form.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

3. What steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to assist development of justice systems in developing countries.

[The Attorney-General (Mr Dominic Grieve)]

The Crown Prosecution Service works closely with the United Kingdom and international partners to deliver targeted justice assistance in developing countries of priority to UK national security. It does this on a range of important threats and topics, such as counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, asset recovery and cyber-crime.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

I welcome that answer. What specifically is the CPS doing in countries that are experiencing high levels of conflict, particularly Afghanistan?

[The Attorney-General]

The CPS has until reasonably recently had an important programme in Afghanistan, although it is currently at an end. The programme enabled prosecutors to work with local counterparts to deal with narcotics and corruption investigations and prosecutions, one of which was the massive Kabul bank fraud, which saw two former bank chiefs convicted and jailed in March 2013. I visited that project when I was in Kabul.

In addition, there are projects in Nigeria, to which my hon. and learned Friend the Solicitor-General has referred and which have been complimented by the Chief Justice of Nigeria for speeding up the criminal process. There has also been a major project in the Indian ocean area that has led to 110 pirate cases being prosecuted by CPS prosecutors.