Miss McIntosh: To ask the Attorney-General what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Crown Prosecution Service.

The Solicitor-General: The Law Officers meet regularly with the Director of Public Prosecutions and the chief executive of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to review the effectiveness of the CPS, and information is also received from Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.

During the last year, performance has improved overall against five performance measures, has been maintained in four, and declined in only one. In its two most recent reports, HMCPSI reported positively on the performance in CPS East of England, and to improvements made in CPS Nottinghamshire.