Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, for what purposes the Government Legal Department has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.
The Government Legal Department is making limited use of generative AI (“Gen AI”) powered by large language models. Since December 2024, GLD has been running a trial of Microsoft’s M365 Copilot, which now has 100 participants and will shortly increase to 150. GLD’s AI Programme is considering where AI may be used and provide tangible benefits within specific work areas and processes, including proposed testing of online legal research tools with Gen AI-based capabilities.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, for what purposes the Crown Prosecution Service has used AI in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is exploring new and existing technologies, including AI, to enhance efficiency. AI has the potential to support the CPS day-to-day in the delivery of justice. I am keen to explore the opportunities for efficiency that this new technology can bring, being mindful of ethical considerations.
A pilot of Microsoft Copilot concluded in August 2024, with approximately over 400 staff across the organisation given access to Copilot to assist them in everyday tasks such as summarising emails, creating PowerPoint presentations, and analysing excel data.
The scheme established that that Copilot reduced the amount of time it took staff to complete administrative and day-to-day tasks and has the capacity to save thousands of hours across the organisation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, for what purposes the Serious Fraud Office has used AI in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.
During the past 12 months, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been trialling the use of Technology Assisted Review (TAR), utilising AI, on a live criminal case. The trial demonstrated that TAR could help meet legal disclosure obligations more efficiently.
The trial adhered to relevant disclosure guidelines and officials are still making the decisions on what is in fact relevant and what is disclosed.
Following the success of the trial, the SFO is planning to use TAR in more SFO cases in the future.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, for what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country
Ministers have not used AI in the Department in their roles as Law Officers.
A small number of officials within the Department have been piloting the use of a Microsoft 365 application ‘CoPilot’ which can be used to summarise content and meetings, assisting with drafting content and interrogating information. ChatGPT has also previously been used in this manner.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion staff are employed by the Serious Fraud Office.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Serious Fraud Office has one full-time equivalent staff member employed on this basis.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, if she will make a comparative assessment of the testimony given to the High Court during AB and others v. Ministry of Defence (2009) and records released by the Atomic Weapons Establishment relating to nuclear test veterans in May 2024.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Paragraph 21.27 of Erskine May states:
“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.”
This is known as the Law Officers’ Convention and it applies to your question.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much the Crown Prosecution Service has spent on external consultants in the last five years.
Answered by Robert Courts
Expenditure on consultancy by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is routinely published in their annual accounts, which are also laid before the House of Commons annually. These can be accessed on the SFO’s website at Annual reports and accounts - Serious Fraud Office (sfo.gov.uk) and the CPS’ website at Annual reports, business plans and strategies | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk).
The accounts of the SFO and CPS for 2023/24 are expected to be published in July 2024.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much the Serious Fraud Office has spent on external consultancies in the last five years.
Answered by Robert Courts
Expenditure on consultancy by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is routinely published in their annual accounts, which are also laid before the House of Commons annually. These can be accessed on the SFO’s website at Annual reports and accounts - Serious Fraud Office (sfo.gov.uk) and the CPS’ website at Annual reports, business plans and strategies | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk).
The accounts of the SFO and CPS for 2023/24 are expected to be published in July 2024.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what was the total sum (a) paid to and (b) received from the Good Law Project by HM Government in respect of legal costs in each financial year since 2017-18.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
There were 42 case files opened in respect of actual court proceedings between His Majesty’s Government and the Good Law Project during the period since the start of the 2017-18 financial year. HM Government won 19 and lost 6, 7 cases were settled, and 9 cases were withdrawn by the Good Law Project. One has yet to deliver an outcome.
In total, in regard to these 42 cases:
The Good Law Project has paid £984,098.45 in legal costs to HM Government, while HM Government has paid £160,925.71 in legal costs to the Good Law Project.
In financial year 2017-2018, no payments were made or received.
In financial year 2018-2019, £40,000 was paid to, and £4,753 was received from, the Good Law Project.
In financial year 2019-2020, £0 was paid to, and £59,013.19 was received from, the Good Law Project.
In financial year 2020-2021, £85,000 was paid to, and £10,000 was received from, the Good Law Project.
In financial year 2021-2022, £0 was paid to, and £286,000 was received from, the Good Law Project.
In financial year 2022-2023, £35,925.71 was paid to, and £544,000 was received from, the Good Law Project.
In financial year 2023-2024, £0 has been paid to, and £80,332.26 has been received from, the Good Law Project.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many times the Crown Prosecution Service met Stonewall in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023 to 8 November.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold a central record of local meetings with stakeholders across all 14 CPS Areas and Central Casework Divisions.
At a national headquarters level, the CPS met with Stonewall three times in 2023 in the context of national forums on hate crime, where a broad range of other external stakeholders were also in attendance. There were no meetings with Stonewall at a national level in 2022.