How many cases were dropped at each sheriff court in each year since 1999, broken down by category of crime or offence.

The information requested is not available. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database records details of the charges against each accused in terms of the specific common law or statutory offence that is alleged to have been committed. There are over 3,000 separate charge codes in use at present. These charge codes are not routinely categorised into broader categories of offence.
Information is collected regularly about cases in which a decision is made that there should be “No Further Proceedings”. This information does not, however, distinguish between cases where the original decision was to initiate proceedings in the Sheriff court, cases where the original decision was to initiate proceedings in another court and cases where the original decision was to pursue a non-court disposal such as a Fiscal Fine.
Regularly updated statistics on case processing are available on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s website www.copfs.gov.uk/About/corporate-info/Caseproclast5.