Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the time taken by the Crown Prosecution Services to make a decision on whether to prosecute in respect of Operation Sheridan.

The Attorney General and I are responsible for superintending the Crown Prosecution Service but do not have oversight of specific cases.

Operation Sheridan is a live investigation under active review by a team of lawyers from the CPS Specialist Fraud Division. It is a large and complex case with significant sensitivities. It would be inappropriate for me to comment further on individual case details.

The CPS have confirmed that they have substantial legal resource devoted to progressing the case and there is also significant management oversight, at a senior level from both CPS and police.