Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many times the Unduly Lenient Sentencing Scheme has been used in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Law Officers referred a sentence imposed on an offender to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme on 136 occasions in 2015, 190 in 2016, 173 in 2017, 140 in 2018 and 93 in 2019.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many times the Unduly Lenient Sentencing scheme has been used as regards people convicted of offences related to the online sexual exploitation of children in each of the last five years; and on how many occasions that scheme has led to a longer sentence being imposed.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Online child sexual exploitation may involve the commission of different criminal offences: it is not reflected in a single offence or set of offences but instead is reflected in the facts of an offence. The facts of the offences of those cases referred by the Law Officers to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme suggest that in 2015, 6 cases were referred in which 5 sentences were increased; in 2016, 9 referred and 7 increased; in 2017, 15 referred and 11 increased; in 2018, 4 referred but none increased; in 2019, 3 referred and 1 increased.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what steps her Department is taking to secure victim impact statements for children in the Philippines who have suffered online sexual exploitation by UK-based offenders; and whether such statements been used in the (a) prosecution and (b) sentencing of UK-based offenders.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The CPS works closely with the relevant investigatory agencies to secure evidence, which may include victim statements, if the victims are known or identifiable.
The CPS does not centrally record or hold the data on whether victim impact statements from children in the Philippines who have suffered online sexual exploitation by UK-based offenders have been used in the (a) prosecution and (b) sentencing of UK-based offenders. The information could only be obtained by completing manual case file reviews, which would be at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, in how many cases prosecuted under sections (a) 5 to 9, (b) 16 and (c) 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 the CPS accepted a defendant's guilty plea to lesser charges in 2017.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of guilty pleas received and accepted to lesser charges in all cases, including defendants prosecuted for the offences created by sections (a) 5 to 9, (b) 16 and (c) 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost
However, data is available for the number of defendants whose prosecution was completed, where the case has been flagged as child abuse, and where the principal offence at finalisation is categorised as a sexual offence.
The CPS definition of child abuse covers any case where the victim was under 18 years of age at the time of the offence and allegations or crimes perpetrated by both adults and under 18s.
During each of the last three years, the number of defendants entering a guilty plea, in cases flagged as child abuse and whose principal offence was identified as a sexual offence, is as follows:
| 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 |
Guilty Pleas | 3,578 | 4,127 | 3,689 |
% Guilty Pleas | 57.6% | 57.5% | 57.8% |
Total Prosecuted | 6,217 | 7,181 | 6,378 |
It is not possible to disaggregate figures to show separately the volume and outcome of proceedings for individual offences within the Sexual Offences Category. A single defendant may be charged with more than one offence.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of prosecutions for child sexual abuse involved the CPS accepting a defendant's guilty plea to lesser charges in 2017.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of guilty pleas received and accepted to lesser charges in all cases, including defendants prosecuted for the offences created by sections (a) 5 to 9, (b) 16 and (c) 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost
However, data is available for the number of defendants whose prosecution was completed, where the case has been flagged as child abuse, and where the principal offence at finalisation is categorised as a sexual offence.
The CPS definition of child abuse covers any case where the victim was under 18 years of age at the time of the offence and allegations or crimes perpetrated by both adults and under 18s.
During each of the last three years, the number of defendants entering a guilty plea, in cases flagged as child abuse and whose principal offence was identified as a sexual offence, is as follows:
| 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 |
Guilty Pleas | 3,578 | 4,127 | 3,689 |
% Guilty Pleas | 57.6% | 57.5% | 57.8% |
Total Prosecuted | 6,217 | 7,181 | 6,378 |
It is not possible to disaggregate figures to show separately the volume and outcome of proceedings for individual offences within the Sexual Offences Category. A single defendant may be charged with more than one offence.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of prosecutions for child sexual abuse involved a defendant who accepted charges prior to trial due to a plea bargain initiated by the CPS in 2017.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Prosecutors do not offer “plea bargains” to defendants and therefore no statistics are recorded. The general principles to be followed by prosecutors in considering accepting pleas offered by the defence to alternative or fewer offences are set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors 2018 and the Attorney General’s Guidelines on the Acceptance of Pleas 2012. Prosecutors should only accept the defendant’s plea if they think the court is able to pass a sentence that matches the seriousness of the offending.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many plea bargains were (a) offered to and (b) accepted by defendants prosecuted under sections 5-9, section 16 and section 25 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in 2017.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Prosecutors do not offer “plea bargains” to defendants and therefore no statistics are recorded. The general principles to be followed by prosecutors in considering accepting pleas offered by the defence to alternative or fewer offences are set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors 2018 and the Attorney General’s Guidelines on the Acceptance of Pleas 2012. Prosecutors should only accept the defendant’s plea if they think the court is able to pass a sentence that matches the seriousness of the offending.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much has been paid to officials of the Law Officers' Departments as an additional incentive for working overtime on top of their normal overtime payments in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2016 to date; how much has been offered to any individual staff member for a one-off occurrence; how many staff received such incentivised additional payments; from which budgets such payments were made; and at which Ministerial or official level the business cases or payment approval for such payments was made.
Answered by Robert Buckland
No such payments have been made by any of the Law Officers’ Departments during the period 1 April 2011 to date.