§ Mr. Leeasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have occurred in England and Wales during the past 10 years, to 512W the last available date, for the offence of criminal libel: how many such prosecutions were successful and how many prosecutions ended in acquittal; and if he is satisfied with the present state of the law on this matter.
§ Mr. JohnThe information is published annually in"Criminal Statistics, England and Wales "—table 1(a), page 154 and table 5(a), page 278 of the volume for 1977, Cmnd. 7289.
The whole of the law of libel, of which criminal libel is a small part, was reviewed by the Faulks committee on defamation which reported, making certain recommendations, in 1975. The law of criminal libel is currently under review by the Law Commission which will be issuing a consultative document in due course. It will be open to the Commission to make recommendations for changes in this aspect of the law.