Oral Answers to Questions

Karl McCartney Excerpts

Thursday 26th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Frazer (South East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

3. What assessment he has made of the importance of communications data in securing prosecutions.

[Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)]

4. What assessment he has made of the importance of communications data in securing prosecutions.

[Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)]

8. What assessment he has made of the importance of communications data in securing prosecutions.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Attorney General]

I do agree with my hon. and learned Friend. It is important to recognise that the cases in which evidence of this kind is very significant range well beyond terrorism cases. For example, some 95% of CPS investigations of serious and organised crime involve communications data.

[Karl MᶜCartney]

Can my right hon. and learned Friend assure me that any agency of Government, or indeed Parliament, such as the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, should not seek to protect its most senior management from legal action and/or prosecution by claiming that communications data are no longer available after 30 days, but instead should strive to be completely transparent and, when receiving requests for such data, make them available?

[The Attorney General]

Mr Speaker, I am sure you would not want me to wade into the details of that case, and I am obviously not in a position to do so anyway, but I would say that all organisations should take very seriously their responsibilities under the Data Protection Act and all other legislation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl McCartney Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Karen Lumley (Redditch) (Con)]

4. What steps the Crown Prosecution Service has taken to improve the conviction rate for rape and domestic violence in the last two years.

[Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)]

8. What steps the Crown Prosecution Service has taken to improve the conviction rate for rape and domestic violence in the last two years.

[The Solicitor General (Robert Buckland)]

This year, more cases of violence against women and girls have been referred from the police, charged, prosecuted and convicted than ever before. The work undertaken by the Crown Prosecution Service and the police on rape and domestic abuse culminated in the highest volumes ever of prosecutions and convictions in 2014-15.

[The Solicitor General]

CPS West Midlands has a specialist rape and serious sexual offences unit in recognition of the increasing volume of rape and serious sexual offences reported. CPS West Midlands has increased the size of the unit and the team continues to work very closely with the police, victims groups and the independent Bar to ensure that strong cases are built and witnesses looked after.

[Karl MᶜCartney]

I thank my hon. and learned Friend for his original answer. Has he brought forward any specific steps to support an increase in convictions where men are the victims of rape or domestic abuse?

[The Solicitor General]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question, and let me assure him that when it comes to the prosecution of rape and serious sexual offences, it applies equally to men as to women. Boys, of course, can also sadly be the victims of sexual abuse. Sentencing guidelines, of course, draw no distinction of gender, and neither should the investigation or prosecution of offences.

Dr David Kelly

Karl McCartney Excerpts

Thursday 9th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Attorney-General]

I am quite sure that he was not speaking on behalf of the Government. In any case, the Government do not have a position on the matter. I have a position on the matter, based on my review, and I am sure that many Members across the spectrum have individual views on the subject, and that is their entitlement—as it is of anybody in this country.

[Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)]

I listened intently to my right hon. and learned Friend’s statement, particularly the part where he mentioned that he had not received any representations from ministerial colleagues. Will he clarify whether he consulted the Prime Minister in advance of coming to the House to make this statement?

[The Attorney-General]

I most certainly did not, and it would not have been proper for me to do so. Nobody has spoken to me about it, and that applies to all my ministerial colleagues.