Norfolk Area Business Plan 2003/2004

CCP PETER TIDEY

ABM CATHERINE SCHOLEFIELD

CJU (Eastern) DEBORAH STEELE

CJU (Western) FRANK FERGUSON

TU NICK METHOLD

Tel: 01603 693000

AREA INTRODUCTION

The Crown Prosecution Service in Norfolk geographically aligns with Norfolk county borders and operationally with the Norfolk Police force.

The Area serves a local population of 796,733 as detailed in the census of 2001 with the Area offices being located centrally in the county, in the city of Norwich.

The structure of the Area currently comprises of four teams, the Area Secretariat, two Criminal Justice Units (Eastern and Western) and a Trials Unit. There are two Crown Courts based at Kings Lynn and Norwich and six Magistrates Court locations at Norwich, Gt. Yarmouth, Kings Lynn, Thetford, Cromer and Swaffham.

There are 73.5 members of staff (full time equivalent) with a running costs budget of 2,951,000. A Chief Crown Prosecutor, Area Business Manager and three Unit Heads, have responsibility for delivering National Initiatives and developing local policy and priorities.

Nationally, the government has set the strategic direction for the Criminal justice system for 2003-2006 through the spending review for 2002 and the white paper; Justice for All. The programme of reform is guided by a single priority, which is

To rebalance the Criminal justice System in favour of the victim and the community so as to reduce crime and bring more offenders to justice.

The service’s Public Service agreement targets for 2003-4 are,

1. Narrowing the Justice gap

To improve the delivery of justice by increasing the number of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice, by 5% and reducing the proportion of ineffective trials

2. Confidence

To improve the level of public confidence in the CJS, including that of ethnic minority communities, and increasing the satisfaction of victims and witnesses, whilst respecting the rights of defendants

3. Value for Money

To increase value for money in the CJS by 3% per year

Locally, we intend to deliver in these areas by setting realistic yet challenging targets. Additionally, in response to the Glidewell proposals the Area intends to relocate its offices in Norwich to facilitate co-location and integration with the police. The move is planned for summer 2003. This will be a major change initiative for the forthcoming year that will impact on all staff to some degree.

OBJECTIVES, PRIORITIES, and THE DELIVERY of PSA TARGETS

Norfolk intends to deliver National initiatives and PSA targets in the following way:-

1. Narrowing the Justice gap

• Introduction of the Persistent offender scheme from April 2003, which will include, early-advice from CPS in PO cases, a common approach to police bail, consultation with CPS before police take no further action, CPS discontinuance approval by Unit Head and charge reduction only in exceptional circumstances.
• Monitoring will be conducted through the use of the j-track monitoring system provided by the Home Office
• A reduction in the number of unsuccessful outcomes and ineffective trials
• The introduction of a shadow charging scheme by December 2003, which will facilitate early intervention in cases through The CPS making ‘duty prosecutors’ available for early consultation and guidance, including the specifying or drafting of charges.
• Consider the formation of a dedicated Witness Bureaux to increase and reinforce confidence between the police and CPS, and provide a highly professional service to Victims and Witnesses. This will go some way to re-balancing the system towards the needs of Victims and Witnesses with the service assuming greater responsibility for witness care and liaison.

2. Improving Public confidence

• Introduction of the casework quality assurance monitoring scheme, from April 2003, whereby Unit heads monitor one file per lawyer per month to ensure consistency in review and decision making, primary and secondary disclosure performance and the timeliness and quality of DCV letters where charges are dropped or substantially reduced.
• Persistent Young Offenders are to remain a priority for the Area, ensuring that the target of 71 days is met from arrest to sentence.
• Introduction of the proceeds of Crime legislation with effect from April 2003. Training to be delivered to all HCAs and Trial Unit lawyers prior to implementation.
• Introduction of National best practice guidance in relation to Custody time Limits, from April 2003
• Continued engagement with community groups, particularly those of minority ethnic communities, through visiting groups, inviting groups to visit our offices and, specific targeting of sectors of the community in conjunction with the police based on police intelligence.
• Additionally, priority will be given to students from an ethnic minority background and a genuine interest in law when work experience placements are being allocated.
• The race equality scheme will be used to ensure that prosecution decisions are free from bias or discrimination, and that employment, training and development are appropriate to ability regardless of age, gender,disability,colour rrace, ethnic or national origins, marital status or sexual orientation.
• We will continue to provide victims of crime with information about their case by explaining to them directly decisions to drop orsubstantially alter charges, offering face-to-face meetings in appropriate cases.
• Implementation of the integrated case management System by December 2003
• Victim Impact statements are to be obtained in every case of Domestic Burglary prior to sentence at the Crown Court.

3. Value for Money

• Continue to maximise the use of AP’s and HCA’s
• In accordance with the Glidewell proposals, the best practice group is to examine areas of work between The CPS and Police in order to reduce duplication and make efficiency gains. Plans to be drafted and incorporated into new structures within the new co-located units.
• Re-align resources to focus on the ‘front end’ of the prosecution process through early advice and charging, in order to reduce ineffective hearings. Prosecutors are to become involved earlier in the case and investigators will continue their involvement for longer.

Annex A

KEY RISKS TO ACHIEVEMENT OF PSA TARGETS 2003-2004

AREA/ SERVICE CENTRE: P26 - Norfolk

Please show below the five principal risks you have identified to delivery of PSA targets during 2003/04

No.	Risk	Owner	Liklihood/Impact	Existing Countermeasures	Risk Assessment Effectiveness and Sufficiency of countermeasures	Risk Status ( red/amber/green)	Proposed Countermeasures ( with action review date
1	NTJG Insufficient, measurable, interim targets to enable delivery ofthe 5% increase.	CCP/UH	L/H	Targets contained in Area Business Plan	Further local examination required of data around unsuccessful outcomes	Amber	Analysis to be conducted with Unit Heads to establish reasons for unsuccessful outcomes
2	Shadow Charging Scheme insufficient communication of the initiative to both CPS and Police staff to secure sufficient commitment to the shadow charging scheme	CCP/UH	M/H	liaison at senior management level to secure a programme of training	training needs to be devolved across CPS/Police	Amber	Area plans to be drafted to secure sufficient training of Custody Sergeants and Lawyers
3	Casework Quality Assurance insufficient time/resource to ensure a large enough sample to provide meaningful data	CCP/UH	H/M	More office time allocated to unit heads than other lawyers	may prove to be insufficient after scheme has become operational	Amber	Review after one month and consider delegation of other work
4	Public Confidence Lack of focus in the community engagement strategy where outcomes can be measured	CCP/ABM	M/L	draft plan to enable progress to be monitored quarterly	measurable outcome still need to be identified	Amber	AMT to consider a package of measures that identify trends in public confidence
5	Co-Location/Integration CPS/Police failure to develop plans for integration to reduce duplication and inefficiency	CCP/ABM	M/M	Best Practice group to look at ways to reduce duplication between the two units	Insufficient resource allocated to BPWG to allow for full analysis and process mapping of systems	Amber	Resources to be allocated to this group to draft plans for integration, thus reducing inefficiency

Annex B

SECTION 3: AREA CONTRIBUTION TO ACHIEVEMENT OF PSA TARGETS

To View these tables see PDF version of this document.