To ask the Attorney-General how many and what percentage of cases forwarded by the Sussex Police to the Crown Prosecution Service for prosecution were turned down (a) for evidential reasons and (b) for other reasons in each year from 1994 to 1997. [31922]

The table shows the number of defendants whose cases were discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service in Sussex, and discontinuance as a proportion of cases completed in Magistrates' Courts in each of the last four years:

Year	Discontinued	Discontinuance as percentage of completed cases
1994	3,246	12.2
1995	3,146	11.2
1996	3,023	11.2
1997	3,468	12.3

No central records are held of the reasons for which cases are discontinued. This information is held on individual case files, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. During November 1994, a survey was conducted of all cases discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service nationally. This survey showed that the reasons for discontinuance were as follows:

Reason for discontinuance	Percentage of all cases discontinued
Insufficient evidence	43
Prosecution not in the public interest	28
Prosecution unable to proceed (eg. because witnesses failed to attend court or refused to give evidence)	19
Defendant's driving documents produced at the hearing	10