Baroness Northover: ...colleague, the noble Baroness, Lady Rendell. The Government are also frustrated, as was the noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, by the lack of prosecutions in the past 25 years. We welcome the fact that Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, who published a CPS action plan in November, is seeking to improve prosecutions for FGM. As the noble Baroness will know, a major new programme...
Steve Rotheram: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dobbin. On 19 December 2012, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, issued interim guidelines on prosecuting cases involving communications sent via social media. It was a welcome move in the right direction and I hope that Parliament and the judiciary will study internet abuse more closely and begin, as I have been urging...
Justice, Institutions and Consumer Protection (EU Sub-Committee E): UK’s 2014 Opt-out Decision (Protocol 36).
Witnesses: (at 11.00am) Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, Crown Prosecution Service; and (at 12.00pm) Commander Allan Gibson, Association of Chief Police Officers; William Hughes, former Director General of the Serious Organised Crime Agency; Aled Williams, former President of Eurojust; and Mike Kennedy, former President of Eurojust and former Chief Operating Officer at Crown Prosecution...
Home Affairs, Health and Education (EU Sub-Committee F): UK’s 2014 Opt-out Decision (Protocol 36).
Witnesses: (at 11.00am) Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, Crown Prosecution Service; and (at 12.00pm) Commander Allan Gibson, Association of Chief Police Officers; William Hughes, former Director General of the Serious Organised Crime Agency; Aled Williams, former President of Eurojust; and Mike Kennedy, former President of Eurojust and former Chief Operating Officer at Crown Prosecution...
Jenny Chapman: ...of clear, robust protection for victims in these cases, but it seems to be the opinion in most quarters who should know about these things that that is what we already have. To give an example, Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said that the current law worked very well. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, noted that the current law allows home owners great protection. In...
Dominic Grieve: On behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, I am today depositing in the Libraries of both Houses an updated version of the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The code sets out how prosecutors working in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) make decisions and is supported by comprehensive legal guidance on a range of topics, further details of which are available on the CPS...
Fiona Bruce: ...trimmed back; as the recent report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights said, it “constitutes a disproportionate interference with freedom of expression.” The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has said that “the word ‘insulting’ could safely be removed without the risk of undermining the ability of the CPS to bring prosecutions.” A gap will not be left in the...
Keith Vaz: I welcome the steps taken by Keir Starmer and Nazir Afzal to try to reorganise how the Crown Prosecution Service deals with these matters. However, the fact remains that in relation to Rotherham there have been no prosecutions this year in the whole of south Yorkshire, despite 600 victims having been identified in the past few years. Does the Solicitor-General share my concern? Can we please...
Karl Turner: ...it is astonishing that there has not been a single prosecution. I welcome the recent efforts of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the publication of the Crown Prosecution Service action plan. Keir Starmer QC stated: “It is critical that everything possible is done to ensure we bring the people who commit these offences against young girls and women to justice”. Right hon. and...
Lord Dear: My Lords, I shall respond to one thing. Lest there should be any doubt that I might have been concealing something in the letter from Keir Starmer QC, the DPP, having safely said that you can take "insulting" out of the section, in the last line he says: "However, I also appreciate there are other policy considerations involved". I am bemused. I think that he probably knew something that I...
Baroness Stowell of Beeston: ...to him about that. The noble Baroness, Lady Rendell, spoke in great detail about female genital mutilation so I will not go over that in any detail myself. I am so pleased that she welcomed what Keir Starmer announced at the weekend; we very much share her view that this is absolutely vital. Having that law in place is not enough. We need prosecutions, and action to bring prosecutions to...
Home Affairs: Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Witnesses: Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions and Nazir Afzal OBE, Chief Crown Prosecutor, North West Area; Nick Hardwick, former chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission ; Dame Anne Owers DBE, Chair, Independent Police Complaints Commission, Jane Furniss, Chief Executive, Independent Police Complaints Commission and Ruth Evans, Commissioner, Independent Police Complaints...
Draft Communications Data Bill: Draft Communications Data Bill.
Witnesses: Henry Porter, Columnist, The Observer, Duncan Campbell, Investigative Journalist, IPTV Ltd and Paul Heritage-Redpath, Product Manager and Solicitor, Entanet Opinion; Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, Crown Prosecutions Service
Draft Communications Data Bill Joint Committee: Draft Communications Data Bill.
Witnesses: (at 2.45pm) Henry Porter, columnist for The Observer; Duncan Campbell, IPTV; Paul Heritage-Redpath, Product Manager and Solicitor, Entanet Opinion; and (at 3.30pm) Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions (CPS).
Angela Smith: ...of an all too easy assumption that any trouble at a football match is down to the behaviour of the fans. Justice has to be delivered, and I welcome the referrals to the IPCC and the involvement of Keir Starmer in the ongoing investigations. As my right hon. Friend the shadow Home Secretary said earlier, the investigation is in two parts. We have the events leading up to the disaster and...
Andrew Stephenson: ...as a murderer; he was never sentenced as a rapist and a murderer. Those cases were left to lie on file. Will the hon. Gentleman join me in praising the efforts of John and Penny in talking to Keir Starmer and the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure that severe charges such as rape are not simply left on a shelf and that people such as Vass are not able to cover their crimes by murdering...
Caroline Lucas: ...at only one small aspect of an undercover operation. Those inquiries have not been particularly thorough and have not resulted in follow-up action. For example, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, ordered an investigation and report into allegations that the Crown Prosecution Service suppressed vital evidence in the case of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar environmental protestors....
Sir David Amess: ...of their decision. As has been said, however, it is right that Parliament talks about this subject and that we take a view on it. I am content with the DPP guidance as it stands, and I agree with Keir Starmer, who has said that we have a law with a stern face but an understanding heart. That says it all as far as I am concerned. I acknowledge the DPP’s report setting out the guidance....
Richard Ottaway: ..., Parliament and not the courts should have the last word on prosecuting policy and the criminal law. I think it appropriate to put on record at this point that I have the highest regard for Mr Keir Starmer QC, the current Director of Public Prosecutions, who drew up the policy that we are debating as he was asked to do by the Law Lords. Let me begin by explaining what the debate is not...
Michael Ellis: ...also right that staff are being moved prior to the controlled shutdown of the FSS and that work is being safely transferred. I note with some interest that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Keir Starmer, who I believe was appointed by the Labour Government, remains satisfied that the closure is orderly and that things can be properly managed. The financial service regulator has also—