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The Role of The Crown Prosecution Service

The Crown Prosecution Service is the government department responsible for prosecuting criminal cases investigated by the police in England and Wales.

As the principal prosecuting authority in England and Wales, we are responsible for:

  • advising the police on cases for possible prosecution
  • reviewing cases submitted by the police
  • determining any charges in more serious or complex cases
  • preparing cases for court
  • presenting cases at court

Find out more about the role of the Crown Prosecution Service

Home » News Centre » Press Releases » CPS publishes summary of performance in key areas of business

CPS publishes summary of performance in key areas of business

12/05/2006

From today, the Crown Prosecution Service will publish a quarterly summary of performance in key areas of its business on its website.

Performance across 15 categories of business will be published for every one of the CPS's 42 Areas across England and Wales. These categories include offences brought to justice, ineffective trials and financial management.

Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald QC said: "The decision to publish this information on a quarterly basis reflects my determination that the CPS should be open and accountable to the public we serve.

"People are entitled to know how the CPS in their area is performing against its stated objectives and to have an explanation if it is not meeting those objectives. I believe that, consistent with fair trials and victims' rights, the more information the public has about the performance of criminal justice, the better.

Performance in these key areas of CPS business is crucial to our vision of becoming a world class prosecution service."

A national framework has been agreed for performance management in the CPS to ensure business objectives are delivered across all 42 Areas. In addition to the 15 key aspects, other areas of business are assessed as necessary. Performance is monitored by the DPP, the Chief Executive and the Director of Business Development. They agree with the Area's Chief Crown Prosecutor and Area Business Manager any action to be taken, and monitor progress.

  1. The figures can be found on our website in Area Performance Summary in the Publications/Performance Management Information section.
  2. The first Area Performance Summary to be published on the website is for the third quarter of 2005-06.
  3. Areas are grouped by annual caseload volume. They are monitored against 15 key performance subjects. Five of these are of particular importance to the delivery of CPS strategic objectives. These are: Attrition (unuccessful outcomes), administration costs, early advice and charging, higher courts advocacy deployment and No Witness No Justice implementation.
  4. Each Area is given a colour coding for each performance subject which indicates the likelihood of their achieving their Area end of year milestones or targets. These colour codes are: green, amber/green, amber/red and red. For some quantative measures, Areas are ranked on their performance compared to other Areas. 1 indicates the top quartile of performers down to 4 for the lowest quartile.
  5. National media enquiries to CPS Press Office on 020 7796 8106.