HC Deb 10 February 2000 vol 344 cc247-8W
30. Fiona Mactaggart

To ask the Solicitor-General if he will make a statement on the background of the Crown Prosecution Service inspectorate. [107913]

The Solicitor-General

The CPS Inspectorate was established in 1997 to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the CPS. The Glidewell report recommended that the Inspectorate should be retained and that its role should be expanded. There were also recommendations for introducing a more substantial lay element. These recommendations have been accepted, but the Government have gone further and wishes to place the Inspectorate on an independent statutory basis. This House will shortly be asked to consider the CPS Inspectorate Bill.

Mr. Trickett

To ask the Solicitor-General what proportion of the files referred to the Crown Prosecution Service by the Police do not lead to prosecution in(a) England and Wales and (b) West Yorkshire. [109054]

The Solicitor-General

The Crown Prosecution Service records case outcomes in terms of the number of defendants whose case was handled by the Service, rather than in terms of the number of files dealt with. During the year ending December 1999, a prosecution did not proceed in respect of 250,738 defendants in England and Wales, representing 18.4 per cent. of completed cases. In CPS West Yorkshire, a prosecution did not proceed in respect of 15,635 defendants, representing 18.5 per cent. of completed cases.