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7 Feb 2005 : Column 1226W—continued

CPS Prosecutions (Essex)

Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General how many cases under section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as amended, were referred to Essex Crown Prosecution Service in each year from 2000; and in how many of these cases prosecutions were brought. [211056]

The Solicitor-General: Records are not available for the whole period requested and it is not possible to break the figures down into number of cases referred and number prosecuted. For the period February 2004 to December 2004, CPS Essex handled prosecutions in respect of 130 offences under s18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General pursuant to her answer of 13 January 2005, Official Report, column 930W, on Crown Prosecution Service prosecutions, what the nature of the offences committed by the defendants being prosecuted by Essex Crown Prosecution Service were; how many defendants were (a) convicted and (b) acquitted; and what the average cost of the prosecution in such cases was in each year since 2000. [211068]

The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service only introduced a system for the recording and analysis of principal offence types in September 2004. Atable of the principal offence types and outcomes for the period since September 2004 is as follows.

Average prosecution costs are calculated nationally and so average prosecution costs for Essex are not available. The average cost for a defendant prosecuted for a summary offence in the magistrates court, is £390.80. To prosecute a defendant for an either way offence in the magistrates court, the average cost is £393.

The average cost for a defendant prosecuted in the Crown court following a mixture of guilty and not guilty pleas, is £1,256. For a defendant who pleads not guilty to all charges the average cost of a prosecution is £1,293. A table showing the breakdown of costs by case disposal is as follows.
Principal offence types for defendants prosecuted by CPS Essex 2004

		Discontinued (including Judge Ordered Acquittals)	Discharged Committals	Judge Directed Acquittals and Dismissals no Case to Answer	Acquittals and Dismissals after Trial	Total Acquittals	Proofs in Absence
A	Homicide	0	0	0	0	0	0
B	Offences Against The Person	211	4	5	48	53	2
C	Sexual Offences	13	1	0	7	7	0
D	Burglary	28	0	2	3	5	0
E	Robbery	6	1	1	1	2	0
F	Theft and Handling	63	4	1	12	13	0
G	Fraud and Forgery	11	3	0	2	2	0
H	Criminal Damage	39	0	1	10	11	0
I	Drugs Offences	6	2	1	1	2	0
J	Public Order Offences	56	0	1	13	14	4
K	All Other Offences (excluding Motoring)	36	1	0	5	5	2
L	Motoring Offences	99	0	5	27	32	990
	Total	568	16	17	129	146	998

		Guilty Pleas	Convictions after Trial	Total Unsuccessful Outcomes (excluding Administrative Finalisations)	Percentage	Total Convictions	Percentage	Total
A	Homicide	2	0	0	0.0	2	100.0	2
B	Offences Against The Person	433	70	268	34.7	505	65.3	773
C	Sexual Offences	26	11	21	36.2	37	63.8	58
D	Burglary	122	10	33	20.0	132	80.0	165
E	Robbery	21	4	9	26.5	25	73.5	34
F	Theft And Handling	648	25	80	10.6	673	89.4	753
G	Fraud And Forgery	47	1	16	25.0	48	75.0	64
H	Criminal Damage	206	9	50	18.9	215	81.1	265
I	Drugs Offences	161	12	10	5.5	173	94.5	183
J	Public Order Offences	273	17	70	19.2	294	80.8	364
K	All Other Offences (excluding Motoring)	245	29	42	13.2	276	86.8	318
L	Motoring Offences	1,524	121	131	4.7	2,635	95.3	2,766
	Total	3,708	309	730	12.7	5,015	87.3	5,745

 
7 Feb 2005 : Column 1227W
 

Crown Prosecution Service records include an analysis of the principal offence type for which each defendant was prosecuted and, within that analysis, an indication of the outcome of proceedings. The information from these records is as follows in respect of CPS Essex, including the number of acquittals.

It should be noted that this information is incomplete in two respects:

The record was only introduced in September 2004; and

The analysis of outcomes takes no account of cases which resulted in an administrative finalisation (where the defendant could not be traced by the police, or had died, or been found unfit to plead). The number and proportion of unsuccessful outcomes are therefore understated.

Costs per defendant finalised—National £

Finalisation category	Lawyer	DCW	Admin	Total
Magistrates court
Guilty Summary	22.91	6.98	12.35	42.24
Guilty Either way	67.42	5.77	18.92	92.11
Discharged Committal	152.42	4.42	48.39	205.23
Prosecution dropped	101.16	4.56	26.13	131.85
Write off	54.94	6.99	14.81	76.74
Other Proceedings	22.72	7.85	8.32	38.89
Trial—Summary	319.87	3.52	67.40	390.79
Trial—Either way	324.63	2.53	65.82	392.98
Pre Charge Decision	29.07	0.00	0.06	29.13
Youth case (additional to PI above)	24.67	0	9.73	34.40
Late Guilty" (additional to PI above)	96.78	0	40.03	136.81
Crown court
Timeous Guilty	482.45	173.47	86.42	742.34
Late Guilty	544.49	211.74	102.83	859.06
Not guilty Contest	620.65	547.65	124.75	1,293.05
Guilty/Not Guilty Contest	598.26	534.01	122.71	1,254.98
Prosecution dropped	543.82	180.26	96.20	820.28
Write off	458.68	148.39	78.47	685.54
Appeals	69.08	61.11	32.78	162.97
Committal for sentence	36.50	55.89	35.36	127.75

Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2005, Official Report, columns 345–46W, on Crown Prosecution Service prosecutions (Essex), what the cost to public funds was of prosecutions (a) in each year since 1997 and (b) for the period to September 2004; and if she will make a statement. [213869]

The Solicitor-General: The costs of prosecutions to public funds are divided into two categories. The first is the prosecution cost and the second is administration costs. The Crown Prosecution Service uses financial years for managing budgets and costs.
 
7 Feb 2005 : Column 1228W
 

The table shows prosecution and administrative costs incurred by CPS Essex during each financial year since April 1997. Administration costs include all payroll costs and other non-payroll administration costs.
CPS Essex—Prosecution costs (1997 to September 2004) £

Financial year	Prosecution	Administrative
1997–98	1,778,157	2,954,806
1998–99	2,205,035	3,108,413
1999–2000	2,391,631	3,379,999
2000–01	2,470,118	3,562,268
2001–02	1,751,749	4,314,751
2002–03	2,377,503	5,071,496
2003–04	2,943,440	5,610,187
2004–2005 (to September 2004)	1,685,430	3,093,535

European Court of Justice

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Solicitor-General pursuant to her answer of 17 January 2005, Official Report, column 663W, on the Court of Justice, if she will make a statement on UK interest in the case; and in how many instances since 1997 the UK has acted as an intervening state. [211459]

The Solicitor-General: The UK supported the Commission in this case as it raised important questions about the operation of the single market. However, after considering the Pleadings the UK felt that that it could add nothing of value to the Commission's case.

The information on the number of instances in which the UK acted as intervening state since 1997 is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, the UK participated in 165 cases brought in the European Court between February 2003 and December 2004.

Football Banning Orders

Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General how many football banning order cases the Crown Prosecution Service has brought in (a) Essex and (b) England and Wales in each year since 1997; and how many of these resulted in (i) conviction and (ii) acquittal. [210454]

The Solicitor-General: The following table sets out the relevant figures. The figures relate to persons for whom these sentences were for the principal offences for which
 
7 Feb 2005 : Column 1229W
 
they were found guilty. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same
 
7 Feb 2005 : Column 1230W
 
disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates court and convicted at all courts for offences related to football banning orders. England and Wales and Essex police force area, 1997 to 2003

			Essex			England and Wales
Offence description	Principal statute	Year	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Acquitted	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Acquitted
12530 breach of a domestic football banning order	Public Order Act 1986 S.32(3)	1997	—	—	—	5	5	—
		1998	—	—	—	20	20	—
		1999	—	—	—	17	15	—
		(1)2000	—	—	—	15	12	—
		2001	—	—	—	9	7	—
		2002	—	—	—	4	2	—
		2003	—	—	—	7	4	—
12559 Failure to comply with requirements of Football Banning Order	Football Spectators Act 1 989 S.14J	1997	—	—	—	—	—	—
		1998	—	—	—	—	—	—
		1999	—	—	—	—	—	—
		(1)2000		—		2	2	—
		2001		—		8	8	—
		2002	1	1	—	23	21	—
		2003		—		57	49	—
50200 Other offences related to Football Banning Orders	Football Spectators Act SS.14B, 21B and 22	1997	—	—	—	—	—	—
		1998	—	—	—	—	—	—
		1999	—	—	—	—	—	—
		(1)2000	—	—	—	—	—	—
		2001	—	—	—	—	—	—
		2001
		2002
Failing to comply with the duty to report imposed by a restriction order	Football Banning Order Act S.14(4)	1997	—	—	—	—	—	—
		1998	—	—	—	—	—	—
		1999	—	—	—	—	—	—
		(1)2000	—	—	—	—	—	—
		2001	—	—	—	—	—	—
		2002	—	—	—	—	—	—
		2003	—	—	—	—	—	—
Failing to comply with requirements necessary to give effect to restriction orders	Football Spectators Act 1989 S.19(6)	1997	—	—		2	2	—
		1998	—	—	—	3	2	—
		1999	—	—	—	1	1	—
		(1)2000	—	—	—	3	3	—
		2001	—	—	—	3	2	—
		2002	—	—	—	9	8	—
		2003	—	—	—	34	29	—

⁽¹⁾Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table.
Note:
These Data are on a principle offence basis.
Source:
RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform IOS: 039—04

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