Minutes of the CPS Board Meeting on 19 January 2005

Present:

Ken Macdonald (Chair)
Jim England
Richard Foster
Neil Franklin
Philip Geering
John Graham
Claire Hamon
Peter Lewis
Portia Ragnauth
Angela O'Connor
Philip Oliver
Judith Hunt
Dru Sharpling
Seamus Taylor
Anjali Arya
Moira Wallace

Secretariat:

Gary Cox
Nicol Harlow

Apologies

Deborah King

Item 1: Previous minutes

1. The Board agreed the minutes of the last meeting and noted that a recruitment exercise was underway for a Head of Strategic Communications. Consultation on proposals for the prosecution of serious, organised and complex crimes was continuing and the review of the Special Casework Lawyer cadre was underway

Item 2: Report on CJS Performance

2. The Board considered a presentation on CJS Performance from the Chief Executive of the Office of Criminal Justice Reform. The CJS is ahead of trajectory on PSA targets to bring more offences to justice and to improve public confidence in the CJS. The proportion of sanction detections is starting to rise; there has been a substantial fall in ineffective trials in the Crown Court; and a smaller but steady reduction in ineffective trials in magistrates' courts.
3. The NCJB and LCJBs are working well and monthly data provided by OCJR is now being acted upon to drive up local CJS performance. The Board recognised there are still a number of challenges facing the CJS, including implementing the CJS strategic plan, reviewing overall performance in London, improving the services provided to victims, including those set out in the Victims' Code and putting stable funding arrangements in place for LCJBs.

Item 3: High Level Performance Report

4. The Board considered the latest CPS high-level performance report and an exception report on the Charging and CPS Direct project.
5. A small team comprising HR and area staff have been leading work to identify pay and reward arrangements that would allow local prosecutors to provide an out-of hours charging service and free up available capacity in CPS Direct to provide support to the remaining Areas as they moved to the statutory scheme.
6. In discussion, the Board recognised the Service should take this opportunity to review and rationalise the range of pay and reward arrangements as part of an integrated pay and workforce strategy. Roll-out of statutory charging would continue as planned and CPS Direct will recruit more prosecutors so as to provide more Areas with out-of-hours support as they move to the statutory scheme.
7. The Board recognised that issues around pay and reward for prosecutors highlighted some deeper issues for the Service, about the values and behaviours expected across the organisation and the expectations the Service has of the people in the organisation. These cultural issues would underpin the Service as it worked to deliver its vision and business strategy and needed clearer articulation. This should be an agenda item for a future Board meeting.

Item 4: Management of 04/05 Corporate Risk

8. The Board noted progress on managing Corporate Risks for 2004/05. There were no exceptions to report to the Board. The Board also noted proposals to amalgamate the risk report with that on high-level performance, so that the Board would be able to consider a more integrated performance and risk report.

Item 5: Budgets for 2005-06 and the Forecast Outturn for 2004-05

9. The Board noted that budget details for 2005-06 would be agreed by the end of January 2005 as planned; that the expected outturn for the current year was just within budget; and that the Treasury has agreed to release funding for roll-out of the No Witness No Justice initiative for the next two years. There will need to be further work on how NWNJ project funding might be sustained in 2007-08 and beyond.
10. The Board recognised that the onus was on Areas and HQ Directorates to live within budget and the Board endorsed a stronger approach to financial management and accountability across the Service.

Item 6: Draft CPS Strategic Business Plan 2005-08

11. The Board considered the draft CPS Strategic and Business Plan 2005-08 and the next steps towards publication in March 2005. The Board agreed that there should be an additional stream to the CPS Vision and Business Strategy - to strengthen the Service's capability to deliver - that would capture work underway to respond to the Civil Service reform programme and the efficiency plan requirements from SR2004.
12. The Board noted that the draft was a rolling three-year plan that would be updated every year. This would allow for greater continuity in planning across the Service. More work was required on the draft plan and the Board asked to see a final version for approval for publication at the next Board meeting.

Item 7: Service Centre Review

13. The Board discussed considered proposals from the Service Centre Review for the most effective way to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of support services to Areas.
14. The Board supported the recommendation to move to centralised and specialised teams for HR and Facilities Management with support delivered from national units, and virtual teams and for Finance services to be provided from one national centre, which would provide a better service and improved value for money.

Item 8: Governance: Establishing the Committee Structure

15. The Board discussed progress on establishing the committee structure to support the Board. All committees will have met at least once by the end of January. The Board invited each Committee to identify the three or so priority issues they were going to consider in the first instance and for them to be collated and put to the Board for ratification at its next meeting in March 2005.

Agenda for Board meeting on 16th March 2005

16. The Board considered a draft agenda for the next meeting, and asked for substantive items on the advocacy implementation plan and for the Director General Criminal Justice IT be invited for a discussion on joining up IT across the CJS.

Strategy Planning & Change Division
January 2005