§ Baroness Gould of Potternewtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
When the Director of Public Prosecutions will publish the reviewed Code for Crown Prosecutors. [HL4114]
§ The Attorney-General (Lord Williams of Mostyn)The review of theCode for Crown Prosecutors was announced by the Solicitor-General in the other place on 24 November 1999 (Official Report, col. 105W) and further detail was provided on 23 March 2000 (Official Report, col. 629W). The review is now complete. Copies of the code have been printed and have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Neither the fundamental principles nor the format of the code have changed. However, the code has been amended to reflect the role of the Crown Prosecution Service and its prosecutors in the light of changes to the structure of the CPS, procedural changes in the criminal justice system and legislative developments such as the Human Rights Act 1998. The code also properly reflects the interests of witnesses, and in this respect has been amended in accordance with Recommendation 8 of Sir Iain Glidewell's report on the CPS. To ensure the code's accessibility, it will be published in all of the most commonly spoken ethnic-minority languages.
I welcome the revised code and commend it to all prosecuting authorities. Copies of the Code for Crown Prosecutors will be available on the Crown Prosecution Service website which can be found at www.cps.gov.uk.