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Written question asked by Will Forster (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 10 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 14 July 2026. It was answered by Sarah Sackman (Labour) on Monday, 20 July 2026 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.


Driving under Influence: Criminal Proceedings

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate the Department has made of how many drink and drug driving cases have been thrown out on technicalities, and whether the Department is reviewing this.

Answer

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and related outcomes for a variety of offences, including drink and drug driving, in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

Figures relating to where prosecutions were discontinued or discharged are included in published tools but further details about why a case was discontinued and whether it was “thrown out on technicalities” are not held centrally. This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
17901
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Criminal proceedings Drugs Driving under influence
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk