Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to bring the financial threshold for electing for trial by jury for theft in line with that for charges of criminal damage.

In Part I of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, published July 9, Sir Brian Leveson recommends reclassifying certain triable either-way offences, including theft offences. We will set out our response to this and other aspects of his report in due course.