Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their response to the report from the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, Private prosecutions: safeguards (9th Report, Session 2019–21), in which they confirmed that a registry of private prosecutions would be made available, why this has not yet been made available; when this is expected to be made available; and how much taxpayer money was paid to legal firms prosecuting private prosecutions (other than legal aid) between 2015 and 2023.

In 2020, the Justice Select Committee (JSC) undertook a review of private prosecutions and provided nine recommendations.

The Government agreed to two of these recommendations:

• To introduce a central register of private prosecutions;
• That we would take steps to ensure costs recoverable from central funds by a private prosecutor are limited in the same way as costs recoverable by an acquitted defendant.

Private Prosecution Register

In the Government’s response to the JSC report, we agreed that a central register of private prosecutions would be introduced to include the names of the prosecutor and defendant, the offence in question, and whether the summons application was granted. This register was introduced by HMCTS in late 2021.

The register is not publicly accessible, and it was neither a recommendation made by the JSC report nor an undertaking agreed by the Government for it to be. The register contains personal data including where people have been accused of crimes where the court found there were no grounds to commence a prosecution. The register is a court record and there are no grounds provided under rules of court, the Data Protection Act 2018 or the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for these personal details to be released to the public.

Requests for non-personal information from the register are accessible through a Freedom of Information request to HMCTS.

Cost of Private Prosecutions

The Government has committed to bringing forward legislation to ensure costs recoverable from central funds by a private prosecutor are limited in the same way as costs recoverable by an acquitted defendant and will enact this when parliamentary time allows.

The assessment of claims and payment of prosecutors’ costs out of central funds for cases brought in the magistrates’ court and Crown Court is undertaken by the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Criminal Cases Unit (CCU) unless the court summarily assesses the claim under s.17(2B) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. Information about central funds expenditure, including private prosecutions, is published on a quarterly basis within the LAA’s official statistics. A copy of the relevant data is attached at Annex A.

Other Recommendations

Sir Wyn Williams’ Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is examining, in detail, the failings that led to the Post Office scandal. It is possible that this will provide insight on the extent to which the private prosecution regime played a role in this particular injustice.

The Government is, however, examining the wider question of private prosecutions and is therefore committed to looking again at the Justice Select Committee’s recommendations in their 2020 report as part of this work.