Written question asked by David Amess (Conservative) on Wednesday, 14 November 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 November 2007. It was answered by Vera Baird (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 November 2007 on behalf of the Solicitor General.

Prosecutions

Question: To ask the Solicitor-General how many prosecutions for criminal offences have been pursued in (a) Essex and (b) England by the Crown Prosecution Service in each of the last two years, broken down by offence.

Answer: I have placed in the Library a table which shows the number of defendants whose case was completed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in each of the last two years in England (excluding Wales) and in CPS Essex.The majority of cases completed by the CPS are allocated to one of 12 broad categories indicating the principal offence with which the defendant was charged. The table shows the total number of cases prosecuted; together with the number and proportion of cases falling into each of these broad offence categories. The comparatively small number of cases that are not assigned a broad offence category include those that are administratively finalised, for example, those in which the defendant has died or cannot be traced before the case is concluded.The table also shows the volume and the proportion of cases resulting in a conviction and in an unsuccessful outcome, in total and for each of the principal offence categories.

Secondary information