Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether her Department seeks references for candidates appointed to public positions which fall under the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service is the only position sponsored by the Attorney General’s Office which falls under the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Andrew Cayley CMG QC is the current Chief Inspector. He was appointed in January 2021 following a fair and open assessment process conducted in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.
As set out in the Candidate Pack published on the Cabinet Office Public Appointments website, candidates invited to interview for the position were required to provide two references in advance of the interview.
In addition, as part of the recruitment process Andrew Cayley CMG QC was subject to a pre-appointment hearing with the Justice Select Committee on Thursday 14 January. The committee recommended his appointment and he took up post on 1 April 2021.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many items of written correspondence from hon. Members sent to Ministers of their Department have been (a) received and (b) replied to since 1 April 2020; and how many of those responses were responded to by (i) Ministers and (ii) officials of his Department.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government recognises the great importance of the effective and timely handling of correspondence.
The Cabinet Office is currently compiling data on the timeliness of responses to Hon. and Rt Hon. members from Government Departments and Agencies. This data will be released, and made available to Members, in due course.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what recent estimate he has made of the trend in prosecutions relating to domestic abuse involving (a) female and (b) male victims.
Answered by Robert Buckland
In cases where defendants have been prosecuted for domestic abuse, the proportion of victims with recorded gender is as follows:
Female victims | Male victims | |
2010-11 | 83.9% | 16.1% |
2011-12 | 84.2% | 15.8% |
2012-13 | 84.3% | 15.7% |
2013-14 | 84.1% | 15.9% |
2014-15 | 83.8% | 16.2% |
Data Source: CPS Witness Management Information System
The proportions of male and female victims have remained broadly stable during the last five years, with 84% of victims identified as female and 16% male.