Tag: Emily Thornberry

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, what recent amendments have been made to Crown Prosecution Service guidance on (a) when to disclose the defence medical records and counselling notes of victims and (b) what action to take if victims do not consent to disclosure.

    Oliver Heald

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) revised its Rape and Sexual Offence legal guidance in relation to disclosure of medical records and counselling notes on 12 December 2013. The revised guidance included guidance on both a) when to disclose to the defence medical records and counselling notes of victims and (b) what action to take if victims do not consent to disclosure. The revised legal guidance is published on the CPS website at: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/rape_and_sexual_offences/disclosure_and_third_party_material/

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Attorney General, if he will make it his policy to introduce the option of anonymity for victims of female genital mutilation in court trials.

    Oliver Heald

    The Crown Prosecution Service recognises that more needs to be done to encourage victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) to come forward. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has said that the introduction of anonymity for victims of FGM should be considered to encourage more victims to come forward as, given the very personal nature of the offence, very few do so. However, any change of law on anonymity is a matter for the Ministry of Justice.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, if he will deposit in the Library data gathered by Crown Prosecution Service Business Area of prosecutions and convictions for (a) rape-flagged offences, (b) domestic violence, (c) child abuse and (d) human trafficking for each year since 2008.

    Oliver Heald

    The requested data has been deposited in the Library of the House together with explanatory notes.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Attorney General, when the next inspection of the Services Prosecuting Authority is planned by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.

    Oliver Heald

    There are currently no plans for HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate to carry out an inspection of the Service Prosecution Authority

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 8W, on freezing orders, for each of the restraint orders granted since 2010-11, what the length of time was between receipt by the prosecution agency of the freezing request and the granting of the order.

    Oliver Heald

    Since 2010-11 the Serious Fraud Office has obtained two restraint orders for overseas jurisdictions. The length of time from date of receipt of the requests to the granting of the orders, are shown in the following table;

    Year

    Time

    2010

    3 days

    2011

    7 days

    The length of time between receipt of freezing requests by the Crown prosecution Service and the granting of the order is shown in the table below. There were two cases (one in 2010/11 and one in 2012/13) which took a significant amount of time to execute as detailed work needed to be done with the requesting country in order to prepare the applications for restraint orders.

    Year

    Number of overseas restraint orders

    Number of days from the receipt of the external request to the granting of the order

    2010/11

    7

    Request 1 – 22

    Request 2 – 96

    Request 3 – 9

    Request 4 – 17

    Request 5 – 17

    Request 6 – 95

    Request 7 – 645

    2011/12

    2

    Request 1 – 1

    Request 2 – 26

    2012/13

    6

    Request 1 – 27

    Request 2 – 39

    Request 3 – 438

    Request 4 – 34

    Request 5 – 28

    Request 6 – 11

    2013/14

    3

    Request 1 – 16

    Request 2 – 1

    Request 3 – 35

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many assets of criminal origin have been repatriated from the UK to jurisdictions overseas in each year since 2008-09.

    Karen Bradley

    The Serious and Organised Crime Strategy sets out how the Government intends to
    improve the tackling of criminal finances both in the UK and overseas. This
    includes developing asset sharing agreements with other countries in order to
    improve international co-operation on asset recovery. Although no assets have
    been repatriated to another country since 2008-09, there are a number of ongoing
    investigations, particularly as part of the Arab Spring Asset Recovery
    Taskforce, about which it is not possible to comment further at this stage.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many homicide prosecutions the Crown Prosecution Service undertook in 2013 where there were (a) three defendants, (b) four defendants, (c) five defendants and (d) six or more defendants.

    Oliver Heald

    The Crown Prosecution Service does not maintain a central record of the number of defendants in its prosecutions. This information could only be obtained by examining all homicide files, which would incur a disproportionate cost.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many and what value of asset freezing orders have been enforced in the UK at the request of overseas jurisdictions in each year since 2008-09.

    Oliver Heald

    The number and estimated value of restraint orders obtained by the CPS and SFO pursuant to requests from overseas jurisdictions since 2008/09 are shown in the tables below.

    The value of restrained assets may vary over time due to changes in asset valuations , exchange rates and payments of expenses.

    Crown Prosecution Service

    Year

    Number of overseas restraint orders

    Estimated amount preserved (to nearest 000)

    2008/09

    16

    £60,504,000

    2009/10

    15

    £11,006,000

    2010/11

    7

    £2,693,000

    2011/12

    2

    £50,074,000

    2012/13

    6

    £4,080,000

    2013/14

    3

    £409,000

    Serious Fraud Office

    Year

    Number of overseas restraint orders

    Estimated amount preserved (to nearest 000)

    2008/09

    2

    £1,000,000

    2009/10

    3

    £69,500,000

    2010/11

    2

    £1,500,000

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) successful prosecutions there were in each Crown Prosecution Service area for (i) assisting unlawful immigration to an EU member state, (ii) assisting entry to the UK in breach of a deportation or exclusion order, (iii) assisting the entry/remaining of an excluded person, (iv) possession and/or manufacture of false identity documents, (v) employment of illegal immigrants, (vi) trafficking in exploitation/for sexual exploitation, (vii) trafficking people for labour and other exploitation, (viii) conspiracy to traffic and (ix) slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour in the last five years for which figures are available.

    Oliver Heald

    The Crown Prosecution Service does not keep a central record of the number of prosecutions completed, and whether they were successful or not, for the offences listed in the question. This information could only be obtained by a manual examination of all files prosecuted which would incur disproportionate cost.

    Official statistics relating to criminal court proceedings and offenders brought to justice are maintained by the Ministry of Justice.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Emily Thornberry – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-03-25.

    To ask the Attorney General, what steps he is taking to ensure that victims of female genital mutilation whose cases go to trial have access to the full range of support and special measures that are available to victims of other sexual offences.

    Oliver Heald

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recognises that appropriate support is vital to ensure that victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) are able to give their evidence effectively in court. The CPS legal guidance advises prosecutors that in all cases of FGM they must ensure that the complainant is aware of the special measures that can be applied for at court, and that applications are made in time. For all child witnesses there is a presumption that they will give their evidence in chief by recorded interview and any further evidence by live link unless the court is satisfied that this will not improve the quality of the child’s evidence. Adult victims of FGM are also eligible for special measures on the grounds that they are likely to be intimidated witnesses in relation to testifying at court. However it is a matter for the court to grant the application.