4. Statement by the Counsel General: The Welsh Government Prosecution Code

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:56 pm on 9 January 2018.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 3:56, 9 January 2018

(Translated)

Thank you to the Member for the question. On the last matters that he raised in his question, as he’ll know, the First Minister has established the Thomas commission, which will be looking into a lot of the questions related to the points raised by the Member on the journey of the devolution of justice and the institutions related to that, including the police. I wish the commission well in its work and I hope that there will be clarity and an analysis and that the work of the commission will be able to take that journey further ahead.

He also talked about the question of accessibility of the law in general and the justice system. He’ll know the work of the Law Commission, which has provided a report on that in particular, and the Government has accepted several of those recommendations. The fact that the Government is undertaking work on that is known to him as well.

He asked for an example of how the decisions to prosecute are being taken at present. Using the example of fisheries, officials at grass-roots level will prepare a file for Ministers to consider. That will come to me with their recommendation to bring forward a case and I’ll assess that case to ensure that the tests are met, and I’ve already talked about that in the statement, and I’ll be deciding, on the basis of the new code, what the right decision is to be taken. That’s how it happens on the whole.

You talked about the relationship between this code and the work of the CPS in general. I’ll restate that: this code applies only to the Government in Wales's decision to prosecute. This code is relevant to that alone. The CPS code is independent, but the content of that code is very similar to the Welsh Government’s new code, with the important changes that I’ve already mentioned. From time to time, the Welsh Government can pass something on to the police and the CPS, and in those circumstances, it will be under the CPS code that those matters will be taken forward. It’s also possible for the CPS to take over prosecution by the Welsh Government or a Government in any part of the United Kingdom. Again, in those circumstances, it will be the CPS code that will apply.