HC Deb 23 April 2001 vol 367 cc21-2W
Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Solicitor-General (1) if he will make it his policy to require the Crown Prosecution Service to include in its annual report statistics relating to the number of cases processed, categorised by specific offence, in respect of cases where(a) proceedings are stopped, (b) proceedings continue with the original charges and (c) proceedings continue with amended charges; [157817]

(2) if he will make it his policy to require the Crown Prosecution Service to include in its annual report statistics relating to the time scales in respect of (a) cases in which a decision is taken to stop proceedings and (b) cases which proceed to a conclusion. [157818]

The Solicitor-General

Some of the information sought by my hon. Friend is already available in supplementary volumes of the annual Home Office publication Criminal Statistics England and Wales, which includes a breakdown of case outcomes by offence type.

In the past, the Crown Prosecution Service has held no records in respect of particular offences, and has been able to publish only aggregate figures on case outcomes. This was because the Service lacked the technical infrastructure required to hold and analyse the vast quantity of data that such records would involve, and because the administrative burden of maintaining manual records was prohibitive. However, there are now two important initiatives within the CPS which promise more detailed and informative case outcomes records for the future.

Firstly, the CPS is conducting a detailed review to ascertain exactly what information on case outcomes is required to manage properly the prosecution process and to account to parliament and to the public for the standard of its work. This review will consider, and make recommendations on, their requirement for detail on the outcome of particular offences and offence types.

Secondly, the Service has a new electronic case management under development, named Compass. This will provide the CPS with the modern technology it needs both to support its core business of reviewing and prosecuting criminal cases, and to make available the management information identified by the review mentioned above.

Of course, no information system can ever be comprehensive. Even with the most sophisticated computer support, a balance must be struck between the data we would like, and the costs of collecting and recording those data.

Wider developments in information management throughout the criminal justice system must also be taken into account. The various criminal justice agencies are working together to develop common systems of data collecting using agreed definitions, with the aim of providing a fully consistent picture of criminal proceedings from the commencement of the case to its conclusion. This project should specify criminal justice information needs for the foreseeable future, and manage the transition to fully automated data collection.