Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of defendants sent summary offence notices under the single justice procedure fail to enter a plea; what is their assessment of the reasons for the level of such failures; and what steps they are taking to address that issue.

Current response rates vary dependant on the individual prosecutors, with an average of 72% of defendants failing to enter a plea. Whilst an individual is at liberty to not enter a plea without reason, Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service is actively working with prosecution authorities and our partners in the Criminal Justice System to understand the reasons why defendents do not respond and to improve engagement rates.