Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many victims of crime have asked the Crown Prosecution Service to review a decision not to bring charges or to terminate proceedings since the introduction of the Victims' Right to Review Scheme.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)’s Victims’ Right to Review scheme came into effect on 5 June 2013. Between the date the scheme commenced and 31 December 2014, the CPS has reviewed 2,423 appeals of which 315 (13.0%) were upheld.

The number of decisions overturned represents a very small fraction of all the decisions made by CPS lawyers. During the period from 1 June 2013 to 31 December 2014, the CPS finalised 198,786 cases with a qualifying decision. This means that approximately 0.16% of cases that would qualify under the scheme resulted in an upheld Appeal.