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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2015 to Question 11888, for what reason the (a) prosecution cost per defendant and (b) overall spend per completed case has increased since 2010-11.

Jeremy Wright

The increase in (a) average prosecution cost per defendant and (b) overall spend per completed case reflects the significant change in the caseload mix since 2010-11.

For example, the prosecution of low level traffic offences has been transferred to the police since 2010-11, leading to a fall of 61.1% in motoring cases. A rising proportion of the CPS workload is now geared towards larger and more complex cases, including non-recent sexual abuse cases.

The average costs are also unadjusted for inflation. If average costs for each prior year were all restated in terms of 2014-15 prices, then they would all be increased accordingly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Attorney General, what estimate he has made of the amount of expected underspend for his office against departmental expenditure limits in 2015-16.

Jeremy Wright

The Departmental Expenditure Limit for HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor includes the Government Legal Department (GLD), the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI). The estimated underspend against the Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit is £2.69m. Total expenditure is estimated to be £190m.

GLD sets its fees and fee rates at the beginning of the year with the aim of achieving full cost recovery and in line with HM Treasury guidance Managing Public Money. In setting the fees and fee rate judgements about volumes of work, the impact of inflation, and cost are made and as a result it is normal for there to be a variance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) victim liaison officers and (b) witness care officers were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in each year since 2010-11.

Robert Buckland

The total number of (a) victim liaison officers and (b) witness care officers that were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service at the end of each year since 2010-11, can be seen in the table below.

Notes:

Data extracted from the CPS HR Database iTrent as at the 31^st March in each year. Data may be subject to change due to retrospective changes in the HR database. Data may differ from previously published data due to differing specifications.

There has been a reduction in total staff numbers and the proportion of the workforce that is employed in witness care units from a peak in 2008. Witness care has been dealt with primarily by the joint CPS/police Witness Care Units. However, most of the staff in WCUs are, and have always been, police staff. Witness attendance rates (which are used as a proxy for satisfaction) have remained above 80%.

[1] Dedicated Victim Liaison Units were established by the CPS in 2014

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Attorney General, what estimate he has made of Crown Prosecution Service expenditure on (a) victim liaison units and (b) witness care units in real terms in each year since 2010-11.

Robert Buckland

It is not possible to provide the actual expenditure on Witness Care Units (WCUs) and Victim Liaison Units (VLUs) without incurring a disproportionate cost since this information is not separately captured by the CPS. However, the total budget allocated for the administration of WCUs and VLUs in each year since 2010-11 is detailed in the following table;

In each of the last four years the CPS has allocated £2.5 million of its Voted expenditure to WCUs. The remainder of the total CPS allocation was funded by income from the Ministry of Justice, via the Victims Surcharge up to and including 2013-14.

Witness attendance rates (which are used as a proxy for satisfaction) have remained above 80%.