§ 67. Mr. W. T. Williamsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the circumstances under existing regulations and rules in which costs may be awarded in criminal cases to persons acquitted of offences with which they are charged.
§ 68. Mr. Liptonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ensure, by means of legislation or otherwise, that defendants adjudged innocent of a criminal charge shall be awarded costs against the police.
§ 71. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that in two recent cases at London Sessions each defendant in a criminal charge was found not guilty, acquitted and discharged, that each defendant incurred necessarily considerable expense for defence, that each defendant was disallowed costs against the prosecution, that each defendant thereby suffered loss and that injustice was thereby done to innocent citizens; and if he will investigate these injustices and take steps to ensure that in future criminal cases, as at present in civil cases, costs shall follow the event.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerUnder the Costs in Criminal Cases Act, 1952, courts of assize and quarter sessions, and magistrates' courts dealing with indictable cases, have power, where the accused is acquitted, or the case against him is dismissed, to order the payment of the costs of the defence out of local funds. In summary cases, the courts, on dismissing an information, have power to make such order as to costs to be paid by the prosecutor to the accused as they think just and reasonable. This is a matter which it has always been considered right to leave to the discretion of the courts. For this reason there are no proposals for amending the law.