Mr Ceri Davies

[1][email address]

Our ref: 1689

Dear Mr Davies

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Act request which was received
on 23 March 2009. In that request you asked for the following:

"Please could you provide details of the number of prosecutions undertaken
for offences against Magistrates (and the number of convictions thereby
obtained), for as many past years as is possible, broken down by the
offence type."

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 creates a statutory right
of access to information held by public authorities i.e. the Crown
Prosecution Service. This right is to be informed whether the information
requested is held by the public authority or not, and if the information
exists, for it to be communicated. A public authority must reply to such a
request promptly and in any event, not later than twenty working days
after receipt.

The individual's right to information is not unqualified and subject to a
number of exceptions and exemptions that are contained within the Act. The
majority of these exemptions are qualified, that is to say the decision
whether to confirm or deny the information's existence or to disclose the
requested material, will be subject to a public interest.

The Freedom of Information Act is a public disclosure regime, not a
private regime. Any information disclosed under it is thereafter deemed to
be in the public domain, and therefore freely available to the general
public.

I can confirm the Crown Prosecution Service does not hold the information
you have requested, we do not record information about a victim's
occupation. The Crown Prosecution Service holds records on the outcome of
proceedings in respect of defendants who are charged and are prosecuted by
the Service; these records are maintained at broad category level, not at
the level of specific offences.

If you are unhappy with the decisions made in relation to your request
from the Crown Prosecution Service you may ask for an internal review
within two calendar months of the date of this letter. If you wish to
request an internal review, please contact the Freedom of Information Unit
(Appeals), 50 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7EX.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Information Management Unit

Crown Prosecution Service

23 March 2009

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]