PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
CPS Direct (10 July 2014)

To ask the Attorney General, in how many and what proportion of CPS Direct-charged cases the charge was subsequently (a) varied, (b) dropped pre-trial, (c) subject to a prosecution decision to offer no evidence at trial and (d) dismissed by the court in 2013-14 and each of the three preceding years.

Asked by:
Emily Thornberry (Labour)

The CPS holds no central records of the number of cases where one, or more, charge was varied subsequent to a charging decision made by CPS Direct.

The proportion of cases dropped by the CPS in cases where the original charging decision was made by CPS Direct is as follows:

Year	2010-2011	2011-2012	2012-13	2013-14
No of dropped CPSD cases charged	19,107	17,423	14,959	22,944
% of CPSD Charged cases dropped	15.90%	15.30%	14.90%	14.30%

No record is held of the number of cases where the prosecution decided to offer no evidence specifically at trial.

The table below shows the number and proportion of prosecutions where the original charging decision was made by CPS Direct which subsequently resulted in a judge directed acquittal or the court dismissing the case at trial, either of its own motion, or on a defence submission of no case to answer, without hearing evidence for the defence.

Year 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-13 2013-14 No of CPSD cases - JDA or NCTA 512 531 444 760 % of CPSD Charged cases - JDA or NCTA 0.40% 0.50% 0.40% 0.50%

Note. JDA – Judge Directed Acquittal, NCTA – No Case to Answer

Included here are cases where an acceptable guilty plea was submitted for one or more charges and the prosecution proceeded on other charges which resulted in a judge directed acquittal or a verdict of no case to answer.

Answered by:
Sir Robert Buckland (Conservative)
17 July 2014