Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many A.) prosecutions B.) convictions have been made since 2006 under Section 26(2) of the Firearms Act 1968 in relation to individuals purchasing firearms or ammunition with a false certificate.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Attorney General
Section 26(2) does not create an offence relating to the purchase or acquisition of firearms using a false certificate. The offence most closely associated with such conduct is section 3(5) of the Firearms Act (FA) 1968, where it is an offence to produce a false certificate with the view of purchasing or acquiring any firearm or ammunition. Depending on the facts of the case, however, the CPS may charge these cases as a possession offence under section 1 or section 5 FA 1968. There may also be other offences considered depending on what the individual who purchases the firearms does with it.
The CPS holds management information which shows the number of offences charged by way of Section 3(5), Section 1 and Section 5 FA 1968 in which a prosecution commenced. The table below shows the number of offences charged by Act and Section in which a prosecution commenced between 2006 and 2025. The CPS is unable to differentiate whether the offences charged under section 1 or section 5 FA 1968 involved the individual using a false certificate; therefore, the information in the table below is for all offences charged under those sections of the FA 1968.
| Section 1 FA 1968 | Section 5 FA 1968 | Section 5(1A) FA 1968 | Section 5(2A) FA 1968 | Criminal Attempts Act 1981 and section 5 FA 1968 | Section 3(5) FA1968 |
2006 | 967 | 2,100 | 90 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2007 | 1,054 | 2,698 | 102 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2008 | 1,107 | 2,775 | 115 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2009 | 1,091 | 2,747 | 146 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2010 | 942 | 2,543 | 137 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2011 | 987 | 2,638 | 169 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
2012 | 891 | 2,219 | 134 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2013 | 739 | 1,912 | 168 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2014 | 660 | 1,874 | 227 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
2015 | 718 | 1,927 | 265 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
2016 | 647 | 1,959 | 420 | 25 | 1 | 0 |
2017 | 781 | 1,792 | 364 | 55 | 1 | 0 |
2018 | 788 | 1,733 | 326 | 61 | 0 | 0 |
2019 | 627 | 1,878 | 287 | 44 | 0 | 0 |
2020 | 451 | 1,613 | 118 | 51 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 702 | 2,188 | 108 | 63 | 0 | 4 |
2022 | 687 | 1,695 | 54 | 90 | 2 | 1 |
2023 | 766 | 1,612 | 41 | 57 | 1 | 0 |
2024 | 890 | 1,712 | 57 | 80 | 0 | 1 |
2025 | 813 | 1,551 | 45 | 66 | 0 | 0 |
TOTAL | 16,308 | 41,166 | 3,373 | 595 | 9 | 6 |
The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants prosecuted. It can be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same complainant. No data is held showing the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.
The CPS does not hold management information on convictions by Act and Section and is therefore unable to provide the requested conviction figures.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutions for assaults against prison officers have been dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service on the grounds of not being in the (a) public interest and (b) interests of justice in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Courts
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold data on the number of prosecutions for offences relating specifically to assaults on prison officers. The number of prosecutions commenced in the last five years for charges relating to assault and/or battery against emergency workers (charged by way of section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers
(Offences) Act 2018), which include prison officers, is set out below. It would not be possible to determine the outcome of these prosecutions or whether the charge related specifically to an assault on a prison officer without an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.
| 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 |
Section 39, Criminal Justice Act 1988; Section 1, Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 | 4,401 | 23,676 | 28,906 | 35,301 | 31,996 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System |
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Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what recent steps the CPS has taken to improve the conviction rate for violence against women and girls.
Answered by Robert Buckland
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the oral question from the Rt. Hon. Member for Delyn earlier today