Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of (a) children and (b) adults prosecuted for (i) homicide, (ii) attempted homicide and (iii) other offences had been assessed under the modern slavery national referral mechanism in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold data on the number of defendants assessed under the modern slavery National Referral Mechanism (NRM). This information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.
The NRM is the UK framework for identifying and referring potential victims of modern slavery and ensuring they receive the appropriate support. Certain public authorities, including the police, have a statutory duty to refer potential victims to the NRM. Adults must agree to this. The CPS cannot make referrals; it is not a first responder.
Section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 provides for a statutory defence for adult and child victims of modern slavery who are accused of committing criminal offences. The defence does not apply to the most serious crimes such as murder or manslaughter.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of charges that used the threshold test subsequently recorded an application of the full code test in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold data from which it is possible to cross-reference Threshold Test charging decisions about a defendant with subsequent Full Code Test decisions. This information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.
The Code for Crown Prosecutors is clear that the Threshold Test may only be applied after a rigorous examination of its five conditions. This ensures that it is only applied when necessary and that cases are not charged prematurely. Any decision to charge under the Threshold Test must be kept under review and the Full Code Test must be applied as soon as practicable.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of (a) homicide and (b) attempted homicide cases was the threshold test applied in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Management Information is available showing the number of pre-charge legal decisions when the Principal Offence Category allocated at the first consultation was homicide and whether the final consultation completed against the suspect involved application of the Threshold Test.
Data can be provided from April 2019 to the end of September 2023 and the tables below show this information for each year and the financial year 2023/24 to date.
Table 1 - Legal Decisions | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | April - September 2023 |
Threshold Test | 840 | 850 | 971 | 1030 | 524 |
% Threshold Test of Legal Decisions | 47.5% | 49.0% | 53.0% | 54.2% | 54.1% |
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Table 2 - Decisions to Charge | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | April - September 2023 |
Threshold Test | 836 | 848 | 968 | 1026 | 523 |
% Threshold Test of Legal Decisions | 59.8% | 58.8% | 62.1% | 64.3% | 65.6% |
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Table 3 - Decisions to NFA/OoCD | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | April - September 2023 |
Threshold Test | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
% Threshold Test of Legal Decisions | 1.1% | 0.7% | 1.1% | 1.3% | 0.6% |
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Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System | |||||
Principal Offence Categories comprise a range of offences. These cannot be separated to report suspect outcomes by specific offence.
Legal decisions are to charge, take no further action (NFA), or recommend an out of court disposal (OoCD).
Following the receipt of a file from the police requesting a CPS charging decision, several consultations may take place before the final decision whether to charge or not is taken by the reviewing lawyer. The first consultation may result in a legal decision outcome or in an action plan that needs to be sent to the police for further investigation or additional evidentiary material to allow a charging decision to take place.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of (a) children and (b) adults prosecuted under joint enterprise provisions in the Crown Prosecution Service Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023 for (i) homicide, (ii) attempted homicide and (iii) other offences were assessed under the modern slavery National Referral Mechanism.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The methodology of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023 is set out on their website at: www.cps.gov.uk/publication/crown-prosecution-service-joint-enterprise-pilot-2023-data-analysis.
This involved the application of a local ‘flag’ to joint enterprise homicide and attempted homicide cases which were then manually reviewed and certain case features were counted. The number of cases in which the defendant was assessed under the modern slavery National Referral Mechanism was not counted during the pilot and it is not possible to extract further management information from the local ‘flag’ centrally.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2024 to Question 11223 on Morocco: Western Sahara, whether he has had discussions with his Moroccan counterpart on the imprisonment of Saharawi civilian prisoners in Moroccan prisons.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, including in Morocco and Western Sahara, as we regularly make clear to the parties. Human rights forms part of our bilateral dialogue with Morocco and we raise concerns with the Moroccan authorities as appropriate. We also engage on these issues at the UN and have consistently supported language in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions which encourages the parties to continue their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara. The UK Government consistently urges all states to uphold international law and international human rights standards.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Code for Crown Prosecutors, how many and what proportion of joint enterprise (a) homicide, and (b) attempted homicide charges in the Crown Prosecution Service Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023 that used the Threshold Test subsequently recorded an application of the Full Code Test.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The methodology of the Crown Prosecution Service (“CPS”) Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023 (the “Joint Enterprise Pilot”) is set out on the CPS website: Crown Prosecution Service Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023: Data Analysis | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk).
The methodology involved the application of a local ‘flag’ to joint enterprise homicide and attempted homicide cases which were then manually reviewed and certain case features counted. The number of cases in which the Threshold Test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors was applied was not counted during the Joint Enterprise Pilot and it is not possible to extract further management information from the local ‘flag’ centrally.
Informed by the results of the Joint Enterprise Pilot, the CPS has updated its case management system in order to commence a full national monitoring scheme in the spring. A new mandatory national Joint Enterprise Monitoring Code ‘flag’ will enable the CPS to extract management information from such cases centrally, including whether the Threshold Test was applied when a defendant was charged.
The Code for Crown Prosecutors is clear that the Threshold Test may only be applied after a rigorous examination of its five conditions. This ensures that it is only applied when necessary and that cases are not charged prematurely. Any decision to charge under the Threshold Test must be kept under review and the Full Code Test must be applied as soon as practicable.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, in how many and what proportion of the joint enterprise (a) homicide and (b) attempted homicide cases in the Crown Prosecution Service Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023 was the threshold test applied.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The methodology of the Crown Prosecution Service (“CPS”) Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023 (the “Joint Enterprise Pilot”) is set out on the CPS website: Crown Prosecution Service Joint Enterprise Pilot 2023: Data Analysis | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk).
The methodology involved the application of a local ‘flag’ to joint enterprise homicide and attempted homicide cases which were then manually reviewed and certain case features counted. The number of cases in which the Threshold Test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors was applied was not counted during the Joint Enterprise Pilot and it is not possible to extract further management information from the local ‘flag’ centrally.
Informed by the results of the Joint Enterprise Pilot, the CPS has updated its case management system in order to commence a full national monitoring scheme in the spring. A new mandatory national Joint Enterprise Monitoring Code ‘flag’ will enable the CPS to extract management information from such cases centrally, including whether the Threshold Test was applied when a defendant was charged.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to the UN Security Council to press for the release of Saharawi civilian prisoners in Moroccan prisons.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, including in Morocco and Western Sahara, and we raise human rights issues with the Moroccan Government accordingly. We also engage on these issues at the UN and have consistently supported language in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions which encourages the parties to continue their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara. The UK Government consistently urges all states to uphold international law and international human rights standards and to avoid any action that may endanger human life.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will ask the UN Secretary General to investigate (a) how many allegations of human rights abuses have been made to the Moroccan National Human Rights Council in Western Sahara and (b) whether those allegations have been investigated.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, including in Morocco and Western Sahara, and we raise human rights issues with the Moroccan Government accordingly. We also engage on these issues at the UN and have consistently supported language in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions which encourages the parties to continue their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara. The UK Government consistently urges all states to uphold international law and international human rights standards and to avoid any action that may endanger human life.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has provided funding to Saharawi human rights defenders in Western Sahara in the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government has not provided funding to the specific cause mentioned. However, the UK remains committed to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, including in Morocco and Western Sahara, and we raise human rights issues with the Moroccan Government accordingly. Additionally, the UK supported United Nations Security Council Resolution 2703 on 30 October, which renewed the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) mandate for 12 months. We have also consistently supported language in the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions which encourages the parties to continue their efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara.