Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, when the Bona Vacantia list will be made publicly available again on the Government website.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Bona Vacantia unclaimed estates list was temporarily removed from GOV.UK on 7 July 2025. At this time, the number of estates published on the list was 5,770.
The future publication of the list is currently under review.
Estates administered as bona vacantia continue to be published in The Gazette.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many estates are listed on the Bona Vacantia list.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Bona Vacantia unclaimed estates list was temporarily removed from GOV.UK on 7 July 2025. At this time, the number of estates published on the list was 5,770.
The future publication of the list is currently under review.
Estates administered as bona vacantia continue to be published in The Gazette.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many open cases the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has closed due to the CPS sending queries to those that had submitted the case, but receiving no response in the allotted time, in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021.
Answered by Alex Chalk
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) may close cases at the pre-charge stage as ‘pending response – further investigation’ for a number of reasons, which are not limited to queries about submitted cases. The reasons could include, for example, that the suspect had died. However, it is not possible to distinguish in the CPS figures between the reasons.
Closing a case that is pending response for further investigation is known as an ‘administrative finalisation’, not a legal decision, and may not be the end of the case. The table below shows the numbers finalised pending response for further investigation, excluding submissions for early advice (EA), per calendar year.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021* | |
Pending Response - Further Investigation (excluding EA) | 30,782 | 28,209 | 23,978 | 6,196 |
*In line with the CPS publication policy the 2021 figure covers January – March 2021.