CPS Leicestershire AREA BUSINESS PLAN 2003 – 04

This document is IMPORTANT and all staff are urged to read it and then retain it in their Career and Development Log.

It is our agenda for success and identifies the ACTIONS we must take to achieve our performance targets.

As the Area Strategic Board we are committed to ensuring that we deliver performance improvement in return for the increased funding we have received.

CPS LEICESTERSHIRE AREA BUSINESS PLAN FOR 2003/2004

CPS Leicestershire covers the whole county of Leicestershire which has a population of about one million.

The Area Headquarters is located at Mansfield House, 74 Belgrave Gate, Leicester LE1 3GG. The Area’s Chief Crown Prosecutor is Martin Howard. The Area Business Manager is Laraine Jones. The Trials Unit and the 2 Criminal Justice Units are located at Princes Court, 34 York Road, Leicester LE1 5TU.

Cases from the Area are dealt with at the following Magistrates’ Courts:-

• Leicester City
• Loughborough
• Melton
• Oakham
• Coalville
• Hinckley
• Market Harborough

Those cases which are committed for sentence or trial or are the subject of appeal are generally dealt with at Leicester Crown Court.

The CPS has a leading role in the criminal justice system. It is the only organisation where activities touch all parts of the process, from its involvement in close liaison with the police at the beginning of a case, through contact with the defence, probation service and courts in steering cases through to their conclusion.

Our work affects the everyday lives of people. We are committed to tackling persistent offenders and bringing them to justice by assembling the strongest possible cases against them. We also aimto improve the information provided to victims. In this way we will help to improve the quality of lives for the people of Leicestershire.

The key objectives and related targets set out in this plan will be reflected also in the plans of each unit, together with individual forward job plans across the Area. In this way, the plan will form the basis by which we manage our performance and deploy resources.

Each member of staff has a valuable contribution to make towards achieving our key objectives. The lawyers and caseworkers who carry out our core business of prosecuting could not do so without the work of their colleagues.

SECTION 2:

Objectives, Priorities and the Delivery of PSA Targets

Narrowing the Justice Gap

The Crown Prosecution Service in Leicestershire will work with other local agencies in the Criminal Justice System to improve the delivery of justice by increasing the number of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice. This priority will be delivered through the following processes:-

1. Establishing and operating an effective Persistent Offender Team within each Unit to increase by 5% the number of persistent offender offences brought to justice by 31March 2004.

2. Implementing by 31 December 2003 a system for the provision of pre-charge advice to the police in order to increase by at least 5% (1000 recorded offences) the number of offences brought to justice by conviction, caution, or offences being taken into consideration. This target to be achieved by 31 March 2004.

3. Reducing by 4% in the Magistrates Courts and 5% in the Crown Court the number of unsuccessful outcomes by more effective case management. These targets to be achieved by 31 March 2004.

To ensure trial readiness, the Trials Unit will implement a system by 1 June 2003 whereby on receipt of a defence statement the officer in the case will meet the prosecutor and/or caseworker in order to identify and address outstanding case issues.

Improving Public Confidence in the Criminal Justice System

The Crown Prosecution Service in Leicestershire will work with other local agencies to improve the level of public confidence in the CJS, including increasing that of ethnic minority communities and increasing year on year the satisfaction of victims and witnesses, whilst respecting the rights of defendants.

This priority will be delivered through the following processes:-

1. Complying with our duties of primary disclosure in 85% of cases and our duties of secondary disclosure in 80% of cases by delivering further training on disclosure for lawyers and caseworkers. These targets to be achieved by 31.03.04

2. Tackling Persistent Young Offenders and youths effectively by devoting more lawyer time to them in order to assemble the strongest possible case on paper. Also maintaining and improving systems already in existence so that the average time from arrest to sentence for persistence young offenders is maintained at 71 days.

3. Evaluating the use of special measures to ensure the best protection of vulnerable and intimidated witnesses by implementing with effect from 1 April 2003 special measures monitoring.

4. Prosecuting more effectively 'hate crimes' including domestic violence, racially and religiously aggravated offences and homophobic crime by ensuring that the court is made fully aware of the victim perspective and sentencing options.

5. Recruiting by 30 September 2003 a Communications and Community Engagement Manager to develop, manage and assist with a wide range of communication functions internally and externally, aimed at raising the profile of The CPS within Leicestershire and promoting confidence in The CPS as part of the Local Criminal Justice System. This officer will also help to establish new links with community groups in the Area.

6. Training all lawyers and Level B caseworkers in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by 30 September 2003 so that confiscation and money laundering are effectively dealt with. The Area will aim to double the amount of criminal assets that are recovered by 31 March 2004.

Value for Money

The Crown Prosecution Service in Leicestershire will work with other local agencies to increase the value for money of the Criminal Justice System by 3% per year. This priority will be delivered through the following processes:-

1. Influencing court listing practices in the Magistrates Courts to maximise deployment of Designated Caseworkers. This will be achieved by ensuring full implementation of the new Magistrates’ Court Listing Protocol.

2. Reducing the number of cracked trials in the Crown Court by ensuring that each Higher Court Advocate conducts a greater proportion of PDH courts by 31.03.04

3. Ensuring that only appropriate cases are tried in the Crown Court by obtaining guidance from the Resident Judge as to what cases should be dealt with in the Crown Court. This guidance to be issued to all Magistrates, Magistrates’ Clerks, Prosecutors and Defence Advocates.

4. Delivering more effective prosecutions by providing earlier advice to the police in serious and complex cases. The Area will aim to achieve this by 30 September 2003 by locating the Special Casework Lawyer at Charles Street Police Station.

5. Implementing the Initial Case Management System (ICMS) by 31 December 2003 to improve the efficiency of the prosecution process.

Annex A

KEY RISKS TO ACHIEVEMENT OF PSA TARGETS 2003-2004

No	Risk	Owner	Likelihood/ Impact (H,M,L)	Existing Countermeasures	Risk Assessment Effectiveness and Sufficiency of countermeasures	Risk Status (red, amber, green)	Proposed Countermeasures (With action/review dates)
1	Agents Performance unsatisfactory (Public Confidence)	Peter McDonagh	M/M	Monitoring System in Place	Monitoring not wholly effective	Red	Unit Heads monitor and Level D train inexperienced agents.
2	Poor Police file quality (NJG)	Nigel Chapman	H/H	Manual of Guidance	Files remain inadequate	Red	Joint training on problem areas.
3	Ineffective Court Listing in MC (NJG)	CJU Unit Heads	H/H	Listing Protocol	New Listing Protocol implemented 01.04.03	Amber	Unit Heads to monitor effectiveness of new listing protocol.
4	Poorly trained staff (Public Confidence)	ABM	H/H	IiP; FJPs; Area Training Plan; Induction Procedures	Performance of some staff remains below acceptable level	Amber	Line Managers to focus on training needs of their staff.
5	VFM not obtained in case of HCAs (VFM)	Janet Meek	H/H	HCAs fully trained	Crown Court not always listing cases to assist efficient use of HCAs	Amber	Negotiate listing protocol that will operate in practice.

Annex B

SECTION 3: AREA CONTRIBUTION TO ACHIEVEMENT OF PSA TARGETS

The Tables relating to the Area Contribution to Achievemene of PSA Targets can be viewed on pages 10 and 11 of the PDF Version of this Document