Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many cases relating to each type of crime were prosecuted by the CPS in (a) magistrates' courts and (b) the Crown Court in each of the last 10 years; how many hours the CPS spent on prosecutions of each type in each type of court in those years; and if he will make a statement.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identifies the type of crime prosecuted with reference to twelve principal offence categories. The Principal Offence Category is assigned at the end of a prosecution case to indicate the most serious offence with which the defendant is charged at the time of finalisation. It is not possible to disaggregate the number of prosecutions for individual offences recorded in each category or the times involved on specific categories without incurring a disproportionate cost.

The attached tables contain details of the number of completed prosecutions in magistrates’ courts and at the Crown Court, for each principal offence category, in each of the last ten years.