Incoming Linklaters partner Alison Saunders has been questioned by MPs over failures around the disclosure of evidence in criminal cases, ahead of the end of her tenure as director of public prosecutions later this year.

Saunders (pictured) appeared before the Justice Committee this morning (5 June), as part of its inquiry into disclosure failings which have dogged the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after the high-profile collapse of several rape trials.

Saunders was asked by committee chair Bob Neill MP why it took the publicity generated by the collapse of the trial of student Liam Allan, who was originally charged with 12 counts of rape and sexual assault, for action to be taken around disclosure failures.

Saunders told the committee that the issues surrounding disclosure had not happened on her watch, describing them as "longstanding, systematic issues". She said: "I don't think that the cultural failings around disclosure happened in the last five years. It is a systemic issue that has been there for a long time."

Asked whether there were currently individuals in prison due to disclosure issues and whether that weighs on her personally, Saunders added: "Some people have been. I feel any failure personally because it is bad for all of those involved in the cases and it is bad for confidence in the system."

Criticised about the lack of urgency in response to the failings, she added: "There is a sense of urgency in our response to this. Nobody wants to see people going through the things that they have been through. Nobody wants to see the system being called into question."

The inquiry followed the publication of a national review into the CPS, published this morning (5 June), which identified 47 rape and serious sexual offence cases that fell through between January and mid-February due to disclosure failings.

Asked by Victoria Prentis MP whether she was trying to "bat away" the findings of the report, Saunders said she was "absolutely not" ignoring the findings, adding: "Every prosecutor who comes to work does so because they want to make the right decisions."

When quizzed on the impact of cuts to the CPS, Saunders said the prosecuting agency had lost 30% of its staff and that disclosure failings were a combination of "cuts and culture" at the CPS.

Saunders and the CPS came under fire in December 2017 following the collapse of the trials of Allan and Isaac Itiary, who was accused of raping a child. Saunders' term as DPP ends in October, after which she is set to join Linklaters' business crime team in London.

She became the first internal candidate to lead the CPS when she took over from current Labour MP Keir Starmer in 2013. Prior to that she qualified as a barrister, before working for Lloyd's of London, joining the CPS in 1986 and holding a range of roles including assistant chief crown prosecutor of the CPS London South, deputy legal adviser to the attorney general and chief crown prosecutor for CPS London.