Crown Prosecution Service: West Midlands

(asked on 29th January 2019) - View Source

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what the change has been in the overall case load for the CPS in the West Midlands between May 2010 and November 2018.


Answered by
Robert Buckland Portrait
Robert Buckland
This question was answered on 4th February 2019

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the volumes of completed prosecutions, or caseload, as a count of the number of defendants and collates the data collected in financial years.

The table below shows the number of finalised prosecution outcomes in the West Midlands CPS Area during each year from 2010-11 to 2017-18 and the year on year change in both volume and percent.

Prosecution Caseload

Volume Change

% Change

2010-2011

84,299

-

-

2011-2012

78,303

-5,996

-7.1%

2012-2013

72,389

-5,914

-7.6%

2013-2014

69,584

-2,805

-3.9%

2014-2015

59,878

-9,706

-13.9%

2015-2016

65,808

5,930

9.9%

2016-2017

66,841

1,033

1.6%

2017-2018

58,849

-7,992

-12.0%

Data Source: CPS Management Information System

It is important to be aware that the types of cases prosecuted by West Midlands CPS have changed significantly in the period between 2010 and 2018. The Area is prosecuting more serious and complex cases as evidenced by a 46% increase in homicide (38% nationally), a 34% increase in fraud and forgery (26% nationally) and a 55% increase in sexual offences cases (26% nationally). During this period, minor motoring cases have fallen by 67% in both the Area and across England and Wales as a result of the transfer of responsibility for the prosecution of these offences back to the police.

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