§ Mr. PickthallTo ask the Attorney-General what records his Department collates on the amounts prosecution counsel are paid from public funds. [46589]
409W
The Attorney-GeneralThe two relevant Departments for which hold ministerial responsibility are the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office.
The CPS holds management information centrally which analyses the payments made to external advocates, whether banisters or solicitors, by class of case, type of proceedings, classification of counsel, and other similar categorisations. In addition, the CPS accounting system records payments made to individuals. No collation of CPS payments with those made by other prosecuting agencies from public funds is performed.
The SFO records payments to counsel on individual case files. This information is not collated.