§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Solicitor-General what percentage of the care home abuse cases have been rejected by the Crown Prosecution Service since 1997. [128390]
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe Crown Prosecution Service does not maintain a central database of cases, and 'care home abuse cases' do not form a separate category of offence. The information requested could be obtained only by examining every case file and would therefore incur disproportionate costs.
Recently, ACPO undertook a study that concluded that between 1997 and 2000 the CPS rejected 79 per cent. of cases of institutional child abuse referred to it. Of the cases that were prosecuted, convictions were achieved in 83 per cent. of cases.