§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Attorney-General what is the target set by the Crown Prosecution Service for the length of time to consider a report laid before it by the Police Complaints Authority and to make a decision on whether to bring criminal charges; how many reports434W of the PCA the Crown Prosecution Service has considered in each of the past five years; what was the average length of time taken to consider a PCA report in each year; on how many occasions consideration of a PCA report has taken more than five months in each of the past five years; for what percentage of PCA reports considered by the CPS a decision was taken to bring criminal charges; and what was the average length of time taken to consider a report that (i) resulted in the placing of criminal charges and (ii) did not lead to criminal charges. [84874]
The Attorney-GeneralThe Police Complaints Authority does not submit cases directly to the Crown Prosecution Service. The Police Complaints Authority may supervise a police investigation into a complaint and it is the police force which then submits a file to the Crown Prosecution Service. The Crown Prosecution Service then reviews the case in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
The Crown Prosecution Service has agreed with the Police Complaints Authority that the decisions, in all but the most serious and complex cases, will be made within 28 days of the receipt of the file from the police.
There are no readily available co-ordinated statistics for the receipt, timeliness of decision and outcome of decision for cases which have Police Complaints Authority involvement. Such cases are spread across England and Wales. Accordingly, the information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.