Crown Prosecution Service
(asked on 5th December 2018) - View Source
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2018 to Question 194050 on Crown Prosecution Service: Staff, how many minor motoring cases were transferred to the police in the same period.
The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (the 1985 Act) provides that the DPP had a duty to take over the conduct of all criminal proceedings, save for specified proceedings.
Specified proceedings are designated by Section 3(3) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 and the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (Specified Proceedings) Order 1999 (the 1999 order) and include most motoring offences which are commenced by the police in accordance with Section 12 Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980.
In 2012, the following motoring offences were added to the list of specified proceedings:
No | Section | Statute | Offence |
1. | s.3 | Road Traffic Act 1988 | Careless and inconsiderate driving |
2. | s.35 | Road Traffic Act 1988 | Failing to comply with a traffic direction |
3. | s.163 | Road Traffic Act 1988 | Failing to stop a motor vehicle or bicycle when required to do so by the police |
4. | s.170 | Road Traffic Act 1988 | Failing to stop, report an accident or give information or documents when required to do so |
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) holds no record of the number of these motoring cases that were prosecuted by the police.
The CPS does however maintain a central record of the volumes of completed prosecutions, assigned the Principal Offence Category ‘Motoring Offences’, as a count of the number of defendants.
The table below shows that the number of these prosecutions has fallen between 2008 and 2018 as a likely result of the additional motoring offences having been added to the list of specified proceedings.
| Year Ending September 2008 | Year Ending September 2018 | Volume change | % Change |
CPS Motoring Offences Prosecution Caseload | 379,837 | 99,331 | -280,506 | -73.8% |
Data Source: Case Management Information System |