CPS welcomes publication of second tranche of performance reports
14/03/2006
Reports published today on the performance of 20 CPS areas, including CPS London, have given all except one area a fair or better assessment.
HM CPS Inspectorate has now published assessments of all 42 CPS areas. Thirty eight were fair or better - three were excellent, 16 were good, 19 were fair and four were poor.
Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, QC, said: "I welcome publication of these reports. I am determined that we should be accountable to the public we serve. It is right that we should be open to independent scrutiny over our leadership, our management of resources and casework and our performance on key initiatives. That is why we publish case outcomes for all CPS areas on our website each month and from April we will also publish on our website quarterly area performance data.
"Today's Inspectorate reports mean that all but four of our 42 areas were fair or better and nearly half were performing to an excellent or good level. A fair rating is satisfactory, but with scope for improvement. There are four areas where the overall rating is poor.
"We are taking immediate and decisive steps to address aspects of work where we are under-performing so that these four areas are performing to at least a fair standard by the time of the next inspection.
"We aim to help all areas perform to the standards of the best. These assessments, and the good practice identified in the reports, will help us to do that."
The assessments cover 14 aspects of each area's work and award an overall grade depending on performance. Five "critical" categories of work are weighted heavily because of their importance to the CPS's aims. These are: leadership, managing resources, pre-charge decision making, ensuring successful outcomes in casework and services to victims and witnesses.
The second tranche of reports included five reports on CPS London, which is by far the biggest CPS area in terms of caseload and staff numbers. There is one overall report on CPS London and one on each of four sectors - Serious Casework, and North & East, West, and South Sectors. Serious Casework is rated good and the three geographical sectors are rated fair.
Overall, London is rated fair. The report says it is "well led and is now firmly on track in an improving direction". It praises the area for making good progress in engaging with diverse communities and for its partnership working with other criminal justice agencies.
Notes to Editors
- National media enquiries to CPS Press Office on 020 7796 8106. Regional media should contact Area Communications Managers through numbers published on this website in Your Local CPS section.
- For further information about the assessments, and copies of the reports, please contact HMCPSI on 020 7210 1143.
- The first tranche of reports were published on 13 December 2005. For further details see CPS press release 'CPS welcomes publication of performance reports'.
