Recommendations & Conclusions
9 items
1
Conclusion
9th Report: Private prosecutions: safeg…
The startling figures on the scale of the Post Office’s prosecutions, together with concerns raised by the Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in relation to the RSPCA in 2016 and reports that the number of private prosecutions is rising, justify a proactive approach to examining the effectiveness of the …
Government response. We share the Committee’s concern about the rise in the number of private prosecutions and the resulting cost to the public purse; the increase in itself justifies the Committee’s detailed examination of the effectiveness of the present arrangements. The prosecutions …
Ministry of Justice
2
Conclusion
9th Report: Private prosecutions: safeg…
It is a strength of the current system that it enables corporate victims of crime to pursue justice when public authorities decline to intervene. The lack of a prosecution can represent injustice just as much as a prosecution wrongly brought. However, in a modern criminal justice system whether an offence …
Government response. We agree that since not every offence worthy of prosecution can be prosecuted by the CPS, SFO or other appropriate public authority, there are circumstances where prosecutions brought by victims of crime themselves (whether corporate or individual) still have a …
Ministry of Justice
3
Recommendation
9th Report: Private prosecutions: safeg…
The Committee agrees with the CPS that the Government should urgently review funding arrangements for private prosecutions in order to address the inequality of access to the right; to ensure a fair balance between the prosecutor and the defendant; and to ensure the most cost-effective use of public funds. We …
Government response. We agree with the Committee that the present arrangements for funding private prosecutions are inequitable as between prosecutors and defendants, and do not always represent a cost-effective use of public money. We agree, in particular, that the costs recoverable from …
Ministry of Justice
4
Recommendation
9th Report: Private prosecutions: safeg…
The Government should strengthen the safeguards that regulate private prosecutions to ensure that any organisation that conducts a substantial number of prosecutions is subject to the same regulatory standards and expectations of accountability and transparency as public prosecutors. We recommend that the Government should consider enacting a binding code of …
Government response. It is important that any proposed changes to private prosecutions must consider the system as a whole, as changes made to one part of the system could have a major impact on the right to bring a private prosecution itself. …
Ministry of Justice
5
Recommendation
9th Report: Private prosecutions: safeg…
We recommend that HMCTS establish a central register of all private prosecutions in England and Wales.
Government response. We agree with the Committee that the scarcity of information about private prosecutions is unsatisfactory, and that a central register would go some way towards putting this right. The establishment of such a register is in hand and will be …
Ministry of Justice
6
Conclusion
9th Report: Private prosecutions: safeg…
The Committee recommends that HMCTS should ensure that the CPS is notified when a private prosecution is initiated. The notification process should be integrated into the structure of the central register of private prosecutions. (Paragraph 71) Private prosecutions: safeguards 31
Government response. A proposal to require notice of a private prosecution to be given to the CPS was considered and rejected when the bill that became the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 was before Parliament; a Law Commission recommendation to similar effect …
Ministry of Justice
7
Recommendation
9th Report: Private prosecutions: safeg…
We agree that every defendant who is privately prosecuted should be informed of his or her right to seek a review from the CPS. We recommend that this change be implemented by a change to the Criminal Procedure Rules. In situations where the police are involved in a private prosecution …
Government response. See the response to recommendation 4 above. Recommendation 9. It is incumbent on the Government to ensure that the rise in the number of private prosecutions does not result in the development of a parallel system where the public interest, …
Ministry of Justice
8
Conclusion
9th Report: Private prosecutions: safeg…
There is a strong case that organisations which bring significant numbers of private prosecutions should be subject to inspections. If an organisation is found to be misusing the power to bring private prosecutions, then the body responsible for inspecting all prosecutors and enforcing the code, be it the CPS, HMCPSI …
Government response. We agree that there should be no disparity between the standard of justice in private and public prosecutions. The same evidential and legal standards apply to both, and we are confident that reforms such as those made in Criminal Procedure …
Ministry of Justice
9
Conclusion
9th Report: Private prosecutions: safeg…
It is incumbent on the Government to ensure that the rise in the number of private prosecutions does not result in the development of a parallel system where the public interest, accountability and transparency are secondary to private interests. (Paragraph 77) 32 Private prosecutions: safeguards
Government response. We agree that there should be no disparity between the standard of justice in private and public prosecutions. The same evidential and legal standards apply to both, and we are confident that reforms such as those made in Criminal Procedure …
Ministry of Justice