Will the Cabinet Secretary confirm the number of prosecutions that have taken place since the introduction of the smacking ban, and how this compares to the number of prosecutions prior to its implementation?
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in Wales monitor the number of cases which are referred to them, as well as how many of these cases are charged, and the outcomes of those cases. It is not currently possible to publish figures as the number reported is so small as to pose a risk of personal information being disclosed.
Data on parents referred by the police forces in Wales to an out of court disposal scheme is available here -The Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020: April 2024 to March 2025 [HTML] | GOV.WALES Data shows between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2024, 100 parents have been referred by the police forces in Wales and supported by the Out of Court Parenting Support disposal scheme. All numbers relating to out of court parenting support are rounded to the nearest five to minimise any risk of data disclosure.
Prior to the Act, the defence of reasonable punishment applied, therefore, the CPS would not prosecute, and the courts would not consider the case.