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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 23 February 1999
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
World Trade Organisation
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if it is Her Majesty's Government's policy to support the eight elements of an ideal result as outlined in the European Commission Note from Directorate General I to the Article 113 Committee on investment and the World Trade Organisation; and if he will make a statement; [71755]
- (2) if her Majesty's Government supports the Investor- State Dispute Settlement set out in the European Commission Note from Directorate General I to the Article 113 Committee on investment and the World Trade Organisation; and if he will make a statement; [71753]
(3) if Her Majesty's Government have asked the European Commission to redraft the leaked Note from Directorate General I to the Article 113 Committee on investment and the World Trade Organisation; and if he will make a statement; [71756]
(4) if Her Majesty's Government have objected to the contents of the European Commission Note from Directorate General I to the Article 113 Committee on investment and the World Trade Organisation; and if he will make a statement. [71754]
Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the European Commission Note from DG1 to the Article 113 committee on investment in the World Trade Organisation. [72249]
Mr. Wilson: It is the Government's policy, shared by our EU partners, that the meeting of World Trade Organisation Ministers in Seattle later this year should lead to a comprehensive new "Round" of WTO negotiations, and that investment should be included on the agenda. However, the Government's policy is that any investment negotiation must be based around a new set of objectives, derived by consensus. We are in the process of consulting with all interested groups within the UK on what the Government's objectives for a new negotiation might be. As part of our general consultations over the UK's objectives for the new "Round". I am convening a series of meetings including other Ministers, NGOs, TUs and business organisations. No conclusions have been reached on the inclusion or exclusion of an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, or indeed on any other individual issue.
The European Commission circulated an internal discussion paper on possible elements of a WTO investment agreement to Member States on 15 December 1998, with a view to stimulating discussion within the EU. The paper does not represent the views of the UK
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Government. The UK has called for a discussion of the paper by EU investment experts, but such a discussion has not yet taken place.
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reasons Chapters E and F were omitted from the publicly released European Commission Note from Directorate General I to the Article 113 Committee on Investment and the WTO; and if will make a statement. [72056]
Mr. Wilson
[holding answer 22 February 1999]: The Note was issued by the European Commission and its contents are a matter for them. However, I have drawn their attention to my hon. Friend's interest and have asked them to respond directly to him.
Mr. Robathan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much funding (a) London First and (b) London First Centre has received from his Department per annum since 1992; and for what purposes the funding was specified. [72167]
Mr. Wills:
Since its incorporation in February 1994, London First Centre (LFC) has received annual grants from the DTI's Invest in Britain Bureau for the co- ordination of inward investment activities in the Greater London area of £500k (94-95); £1,000k (95-96); £1,010k (96-97); £1,015k (97-98); and £1,015k (98-99).
London First, of which LFC is a wholly owned subsidiary, has not received grant funding from the DTI. It is financed from members' contributions, donations, project and sundry income.
Crown Prosecution Service
Mr. Cox: To ask the Attorney-General how many cases were referred to the Crown Prosecution Service in each of the last three years; in how many cases court proceedings were recommended; and if he will make a statement. [72548]
The Attorney-General: The table shows the number of cases which the Crown Prosecution Service received from the police, and the number which the Service finalised, in each of the last three years. Both figures are inclusive of cases submitted for pre-charge advice and non-criminal proceedings, and the numbers of these completed in each year are shown separately.
The table then shows the number and the proportion of cases in which a prosecution did not proceed. These outcomes are divided into those cases discontinued by the Service, and those which were written off because the defendant could not be traced or had died, or because proceedings were adjourned indefinitely.
Finally, the table shows the number and proportion of cases in which a prosecution proceeded. These are divided
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into cases in which the defendant was bound over to keep the peace, those which proceeded to a committal hearing, and those which proceeded to a trial or guilty plea.
The Code for Crown Prosecutors requires that there should be sufficient reliable evidence to give a realistic prospect of conviction, and that the prosecution should be in the public interest. These criteria are applied in every case. Every case discontinued must be reviewed by a Crown Prosecutor and, wherever time allows, the police must be consulted before a decision is taken. The number of cases discontinued against the opinion of the police is very small: a survey conducted in 1994 showed that the police objected to discontinuance on only 4 per cent. of occasions when they were consulted.
However, discontinuance is not primarily the result of a Crown Prosecutor's judgment. More than half of discontinued cases are unable to proceed because witnesses fail to appear at court, refuse to give evidence or change their evidence, defendants produce driving documents proving their innocence on the day of the trial; evidence is excluded because of irregularities in its collection; or due to lack of continuity evidence in the
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prosecution case which cannot be provided by the police. In these circumstances, the Crown Prosecution Service has no choice but to discontinue proceedings.
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Received | 1,348,558 | 1,388,474 | 1,427,837 |
| Finalised | 1,335,474 | 1,387,557 | 1,430,555 |
| of which: | |||
| Pre-charge advice | 46,679 | 48,316 | 59,799 |
| Non-criminal proceedings | 14,433 | 11,461 | 11,660 |
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| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| Did not proceed | ||||||
| Discontinued | 153,274 | 12.0 | 161,461 | 12.2 | 162,661 | 12.0 |
| Written off | 102,283 | 8.0 | 92,930 | 7.0 | 88,506 | 6.5 |
| Total cases which did not proceed | 255,557 | 20.1 | 254,391 | 19.2 | 251,167 | 18.5 |
| Cases proceeding | ||||||
| Bind over | 20,016 | 1.6 | 22,747 | 1.7 | 24,914 | 1.8 |
| Committal hearing | 98,575 | 7.7 | 107,979 | 8.1 | 95,073 | 7.0 |
| Trial or Guilty plea | 900,215 | 70.6 | 942,665 | 71.0 | 987,943 | 72.7 |
| Total cases proceeding | 1,018,806 | 79.9 | 1,073,391 | 80.8 | 1,107,930 | 81.5 |
Notes:
1. The figures given in the draft reply represent cases handled by the 13 Areas of the CPS, but do not include the specialised cases handled by Central Casework.
2. Cases discontinued are inclusive of those in which the CPS withdrew proceedings at court as well as those discontinued by way of a s23 notice.
3. Discontinuance fell from 13.3 per cent. of completed cases in 1992 to 12.8 per cent. in 1993, and has remained almost unchanged at around 12 per cent. for each year since then.
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