Being Renowned For Fairness Excellent Career Opportunities and the Commitment and Skill of all our People
Higher Court Advocates (HCAs) and Designated Caseworkers (DCWs)
The CPS is introducing an Advocacy Strategy which aims to make the Service one that routinely conducts its own high-quality advocacy in all courts.
The Advocacy Strategy will build on the success of the Hertfordshire and Hampshire and Isle of Wight HCA Pathfinder Pilots, which were established in June 2004. Increased advocacy in Crown Court practice and procedure is providing HCAs with valuable front-line experience, enhancing their performance skills and delivering a high quality service to the Crown Court.
As part of the strategy the CPS is increasing both the number and use of DCWs in the magistrates' courts. DCWs are prosecuting a range of straightforward cases allowing more CPS prosecutors to engage in more complicated trials in magistrates' courts and the Crown Court.
Case study
In January 2005, Hampshire Senior Crown Prosecutor Ian Harris became the first HCA from one of the two Pilot Areas to appear in the Court of Appeal. In April 2004 Stephen Bain, a disqualified driver, incorrectly believing police were chasing him, began weaving in and out of traffic on the A3M in Hampshire at high speed. His three passengers begged him to stop and, when he crashed, Bain fled the scene leaving his front seat passenger with life-threatening head injuries. The CPS pre-charge advice lawyer felt that Dangerous Driving alone, with a two-year maximum sentence, did not fully reflect what Bain had done, so he was also charged with causing grievous bodily harm (GBH), which carries up to 5 years. Bain pleaded guilty to both offences and was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court to a total of 40 months imprisonment but then appealed, saying it was wrong to charge both GBH and dangerous driving and to impose a sentence longer than the two-year maximum for dangerous driving. Ian represented the prosecution in legal argument at the Court of Appeal, which held that there was nothing wrong with charging both offences, vindicating the original CPS decision. Ian met with the victim both before and after the appeal hearing to advise her of the process and answer any questions she might have.
In September 2004 the CPS held its first DCW Conference in Grantham. The conference was well attended with both the DPP and Chief Executive providing keynote speeches. The conference was a positive opportunity for DCWs and senior management to discuss the extended powers for DCWs which came in to force on 1st April 2004. The success and value of the conference has led to the organisation of an annual event.
Case study
Operation Deft began in August 2003. The aim of this was to conduct covert observations on drug dealers responsible for large-scale systematic distribution of drugs in Wiltshire. As a result of this work Darren Mensah was revealed to have supplied cocaine and cannabis from June 2002-June 2004. Following investigations Mensahand 8 associates were arrested and charged with conspiring to supply class A drugs (cocaine) and conspiracy to supply controlled drugs (cannabis) to others. Caseworker Peter Lewis fulfilled a number of roles during the case including; providing assistance to police officers on running major operations; answering requests from defence teams; and keeping counsel informed of progress. On 10th May 2005 seven defendants were convicted of one or both charges and sentenced to custodial sentences of between 2 and 11 years. Following the trial Counsel commended Peter for his work, praising him for his "remarkable level of professionalism" and stating he was "a credit to the Crown Prosecution Service."
Case study
In the early hours on Saturday 3rd August 2002 two females awoke to find an intruder in their room. William Cantile, masked and armed with a knife and a hammer demanded that they perform a sexual act, when they refused he attacked them. Full DNA tests performed at the time on the knife and hammer, which were left at the scene, proved negative. In October 2003 the investigation was reviewed and supported by the reviewing lawyer, HCA Mark Carrington, new DNA techniques were used and identified Cantile as the likely offender. Mark, also the Homophobic Crime Co-ordinator, prepared the case for trial using his in-depth knowledge of bad character, hearsay and new sentencing provisions which all played a significant part in the trial. At each stage of the process the victims were kept up-to-date on what was happening and screens were used to allow them to give their evidence. On 22 April 2005 Cantile was convicted of two counts of wounding with intent and due to his previous conviction for rape was sentenced to life imprisonment with a determinate period of six years.
Developing our Staff
The CPS is committed to developing all its people and providing a wide range of opportunities. These range from courses run to develop administration staff by enhancing work related skills through the Diploma in Personal and Professional Development to providing secondments in other criminal justice agencies.
Carol Batten
Carol Batten, office administrator at Taunton Trials Unit, successfully achieved a Professional Diploma in Personal and Professional Development with Leeds University. The diploma is designed to enhance individual development as well as improve work-related skills.
Duncan Birrell
In February 2005 Duncan Birrell became the first CPS lawyer to become a Deputy District Judge. He was one of 25 successful candidates selected from nearly 500 applications from both the private and public sector. Mr Birrell cannot preside over cases prosecuted by the CPS, but can sit on cases prosecuted by authorities including HM Revenue & Customs, DTI, local authorities, DWP and RSPCA.
Increasing Opportunity
The CPS is the biggest legal services employer in the UK with a reputation for providing high quality career development opportunities to all its staff.
CPS staff secured a record number of places in this year's Cabinet Office sponsored Disability Bursary Scheme. The bursary identifies disabled staff with the potential to reach the senior levels of the Civil Service and provides each holder with £10,000 worth of development activity.
Oliver Haswell
Oliver Haswell, CPS Gwent, secured one of these places and has spent time with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where he gained valuable new skills that he has been able to tailor to his current role as a Communication and Diversity Officer.
In December 2004 CPS West Midlands became one of the first CPS Areas to sign up to a formal agreement with Remploy, the UK's largest provider of employment opportunities for people with disabilities and health issues in the UK. The agreement contains a package of measures to recruit, secure and retain employees with health problems or disabilities. The initiative will help people switch from incapacity benefit into paid employment
Mike Grist, ABM, CPS West Midlands said "This is an excellent opportunity for the CPS to assist people with disabilities to not only get them into employment but also support them via training and development in order for them to progress through the organisation."
Legal Trainees/Legal Scholarships
The CPS Law Scholarship Scheme is now in its second year. The Scheme gives employees the opportunity to study for legal qualifications ranging from A levels to Legal Practice Course/Bar Vocational Courses. The Scheme currently has 320 scholars of which approximately 215 are women and 27% are from black and minority ethnic communities, which is an increase of 7% since 2003. Within this scheme the CPS has 52 Legal Trainees undertaking their training contracts or pupillage with the Service.
The CPS won the Best Recruiter & Trainer: Inhouse/ Public Sector category at a legal training and recruitment awards ceremony in June 2004. Jointly sponsored by online magazine Law Careers.Net and the Trainee Solicitors' group the awards honour the best in UK legal training and recruitment. Speaking of the award CPS training principal Lesley Williams said,"We were particularly pleased with this one as we were nominated by the people we trained rather than putting ourselves forward."
Leadership and Development
The CPS leadership development programme, Transform, was launched in April 2003 and has developed into a comprehensive programme of development for existing, new and aspiring managers. Training has been provided to all Area and Sector Business Managers and new Chief Crown Prosecutors. Seventy-eight Unit Heads have also attended the Transform programme and a number are currently undertaking further development via the Advanced Professional Diploma in Leadership and Management with Leeds Metropolitan University. The CPS is also identifying new talent with 24 new and aspiring managers having completed the Institute of Leadership and Management's diploma.
In November 2004 the CPS won the Innovation in Career Development category at the Personnel Today Awards 2004 for developing the Law Scholarship Scheme. The award demonstrates the success of the scheme and the ability of the CPS to compete with the private sector.
Staff Survey
The 2004 staff survey "Your Voice 2004" was published in May 2004. The survey highlighted significant improvements in staff attitudes and satisfaction including; 19% improvement in the belief that CPS provided good career progression opportunities; and a 16% improvement in those who think that the quality of service offered by the CPS is good.
After analysing the results of the survey the CPS identified five keys areas in which improvements would be implemented over the next two years. These were; Communication, Health and Safety, Induction, Management and Leadership, and Recruitment. The CPS, together with key stakeholders, produced a Corporate Level Action Plan which sets out actions that need to be taken in the five key areas. The corporate level plan does not seek to replace the work that individual Areas/HQ Directorates are undertaking to address their own key areas for improvement but will take forward actions that affect the CPS as a whole. The next staff survey will take place in March 2006.
Recruitment Process
The CPS has improved recruitment policies and procedures. The aim is to improve the standard of new entrants whilst reducing costs and the overall time taken to recruit staff to ten weeks. Following this work a new recruitment process was introduced in June 2004 including a supporting "online" system. The recruitment initiatives are also complemented by new induction and innovative learning packages such as the prosecution college lawyer induction.
These courses have been rolled out progressively throughout 2004-05.
Prosecution College
The Prosecution College was launched in November 2004 and will provide the main focus for learning and development across the CPS in the future. It will offer a range of high quality modules and courses for our staff and partners in the CJS. The virtual Prosecution College will be the main 'hub' for information about learning and development opportunities. It will also provide a number of online learning programmes.We are at the early stages of development but have already introduced innovative learning packages such as lawyer induction, equality and diversity and NWNJ modules.
"I thought the online induction modules were very helpful and very well thought out. They certainly enabled me to focus on the issues of charging standards and the code"
Ellen Greaves, Crown Prosecutor, CPS London.
CPS Workforce Strategy
The Pay and Workforce Strategy was published in Autumn 2004. This is an integrated strategy that recognises the part played by lawyers and those who provide a supporting role in the prosecuting function.
Maximising Attendance
In April 2004 the Maximising Attendance Project was launched with the aim of improving absence management in the CPS. The Project is focussing on the following areas of activity over the next two years:
- improving management information on sickness absence and data collection systems;
- establishing realistic but challenging targets for the reduction of sickness absence with progress reports presented to the CPS Board;
- reviewing and updating the current policies on sickness absence;
- providing guidance for managers and individuals on sickness absence management roles and responsibilities with training where appropriate;
- developing solutions to tackle longer-term absences.
The CPS sickness absence rate has fallen by 5.4% to 8.7 days a year and is currently 1.3% better than the Civil Service average.
