CPS Board meeting minutes - December 2023

12 December 2023, 14:00-17:00, CPS Boardroom/Microsoft Teams

Members

Monica Burch (C), Stephen Parkinson, Simon Jeffreys, Subo Shanmuganathan, Dawn Brodrick, Greg McGill, Kathryn Stone

Guests

Steve Buckingham (attending all items), Tristan Bradshaw (attending item 4), Baljit Ubhey (attending item 8), Michael Friis (attending items 8), James Crutchley (attending item 5), Harvey Palmer (attending item 7), Louise Gray (Shadow Board Chair)

Secretariat

Max Looker

Apologies

N/A

Item 1: Declaration of any conflicts

1.1    The Chair welcomed Louise Gray to bring the views as the new Chair of the Shadow Board.

1.2    No additional conflicts of interest were raised.

Item 2: Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising.

2.1 The Board reviewed and agreed the minutes.

2.2    The Board noted a lot of actions had been closed and that open actions are on track going into 2024.  Despite actions being on track, the Board asked for any drifting actions to be finalised.

Item 3: Update from the DPP

3.1    The DPP reflected on his call with the senior leadership and was grateful for his induction, commending the quality of briefing he had received in his first few weeks in post.

3.2    The DPP also indicated his introductions meetings with stakeholders had gone well.  These included meetings with the NPCC Chair, Met Commissioner, Lord Chancellor, Home Secretary and Lady Chief Justice.

3.3    It was noted that Area visits had commenced and the DPP expressed his pleasure with the high level of engagement with CPS staff. The DPP shared his core focus being on the improvement of processes with the aim of having a significant impact on Court backlogs and he also raised the concept of building Criminal Justice Units to help develop improved links between the Police and prosecutors.  It was also recognised that the CPS is in a strong position to work with partners across the CJS and offer leadership to drive the required improvements.

Item 4: Q2 Performance update

4.1 Tristan joined the board to provide an update on the following key point:

4.2 Since the key performance indicators have been launched, there has been a positive impact on the conversations and the level of engagement.

4.3 Tristan raised the following the key challenges:  

• CTLs continue to increase and have been identified by HMCPSI as a compliance issue.  There is further work to do to ensure compliance at Area level.
• Caseload in magistrates' and Crown Court needs to be tackled across the CJS. Recognising this is a CJS wide issue and not something that can be dealt with by the CPS alone.

4.4    The DPP discussed a series of tweaks which could be made in a number of different areas which, if each were effective, would help with inefficiencies across the CPS. For example, noncustodial cases could be heard at magistrates' court to alleviate some of the backlog in Crown court.

4.5    The Shadow board recognised the issues and reinforced the passion of the CPS work force wishing to help make change with direction from senior leaders.

4.6    The Board welcomed the strategic overview and confirmed the DPP's earlier point about the CPS being in a strong position as leaders within the CJS.

Item 5: Supplementary Budget

5.1   Louise was asked by the Chair to excuse herself for Items 5 and 6.

5.2   Steve presented an update on the challenges and the latest financial position:

• Good regular engagement with the Treasury, to go through forecasts; keeping them aware the CPS is a demand driven organisation.
• Period 12 was an extraordinary peak in prosecution costs, a significant change around number of sitting day peaking at 105,000 sitting days which is still increasing.
• Significant changes to the case mix, with more serious cases resulting in an increase in prosecution costs and the costs incurred due to the increased need to move counsel around the country.

5.3 The Civil Service was informed by the government of a proposed headcount reduction by 2025.

Item 6: Hybrid Working

6.1 Dawn provided a verbal update on Hybrid Working and the discussions taking place.

6.2    The review of the policy is because of the Cabinet Office guidance for workforces to be in the office 60% of time and the views of the DPP.

6.3     The CPS is currently in a consultation phase with the unions and staff networks. It was confirmed that an Equality Impact Assessment is being developed to support any decision taken.

6.4     An extraordinary People committee session is taking place to look at the policy with recommendations being taken to the Executive Group at the December meeting.

6.5     The DPP welcomed the Cabinet Office guidance and confirmed that it aligned with his views that this will have an impact on improving staff wellbeing. The DPP also suggested that he had concerns that the changes need to provide as much flexibility as possible.

6.6     The Board agreed that the Leadership of the CPS will need to role model the expectations for the rest of the organisation.

Item 7: Portfolio Oversight Group

7.1    Louise was invited back for the remainder of the meeting.

7.2    Harvey Palmer joined the meeting presenting the progress of work to define and implement the Portfolio Oversight Group (POG).

7.3    The POG is necessary as there needs to be greater understanding and oversight of the change portfolio and the need to increase the capacity and capability of the organisation to deliver the change.

7.4     It was noted that this represented a real step change in focus in relation to how Executive Group prioritise change and it was agreed that the CPS needed to be much better at prioritising.

7.5     The Board welcomed the greater opportunity to prioritise projects but recommended that the POG remain light and nimble and not over burden itself with project management processes.

7.6     The Board were mindful that there should not be a cross over between EG and POG due to the same membership. While the Chair of POG had yet to be agreed, the DPP confirmed that he would be taking the role in the interim.

Item 8: Victims Transformation Programme

8.1    Baljit Ubhey, Jennifer Offord and Michael Friis joined.  

8.2    Baljit gave an overview of the status of the programme.

8.3    The Board raised items of concern:

• The importance of high-quality, joint communication with the Police.
• The 18-month implementation target being a long period of time.
• Letter templates can lead to a lack of thought, and the appropriate training needs to be applied.
• What measures are in place to recognise that those who have experienced the most violent of crimes aren’t always those that have the most need.

8.4     The Shadow Board agreed and suggested the programme work with stakeholders and relevant groups to ensure they were tapping into the full knowledge of the CPS and CJS and to ensure interdependencies could be identified and nurtured.

8.5     The Board suggested the programme include the IAC in any additional engagement.

8.6     Baljit confirmed that the team had spoken to the new Police lead and that Police collaboration is going well with a review of their care programme to ensure alignment.

8.7     Jennifer confirmed that the refresh of the letter templates was a necessary starting point to ensure high quality written communication. It was also noted that they had received a great response to the work that had already started with Operations colleagues and Victims' Groups and that they had taken onboard their feedback.

8.8     Baljit also confirmed that the 18-month delivery plan for victims was signed off with the programme board alongside benefits realisation and the risk register, ensuring the governance is in place given its volume of work.

8.9     NCBS launching in January 2024 and Baljit’s approach is focused on the customer mindset and the need to avoid too much media noise around the subject. The programme needs to be dealt with delicately to ensure it is impactful.

Item 9: AOB

9.1 No items of AOB were raised.

Meeting closed.

Secretariat – Max Looker & Stephanie Bradshaw

December 2023