Crown Prosecution Service Performance
Attrition
Reduction in Unsuccessful Outcomes in magistrates' courts and the Crown Court.
Met. The proportion of unsuccessful outcomes fell from 17.7% in 2005-06 to 16.3% in 2006-07, meeting the annual target of 17%.
Increase in the sanction detection rate.
Met. The CPS increased sanction detections to 25.7% in March 2007 against a trajectory of 23.9%.
Hate Crime
Reduction in unsuccessful outcomes for hate crime.
Met. The proportion of unsuccessful outcomes for hate crime fell from 38% in 2005-06 to 32.8% in 2006-07, meeting the target of 36%.
Charging
A reduction in the discontinuance rate for magistrates' courts and Crown Court activity.
Not Met. Magistrates’ courts discontinuance rate was 14.8% in March 2007 compared to the national target of 11%. Crown Court discontinuance rate was 13.3% compared to a national target of 11%.*
An increase in the guilty plea rate for magistrates' courts and Crown Court activity.
Met. Magistrates’ courts guilty plea rate for March 2007 was 70.6% compared to a national target of 52%.
Not Met. Crown Court guilty plea rate for March 2007 was 65.9% compared to a national target of 68%.*
* Note: Target data included in the 2005-06 CPS Annual Report and Resource Accounts were incorrectly noted as Area averages rather than the national target.
Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA)
Assets recovered under POCA.
Met. The CPS secured 3373 confiscation orders against a target of 3293 with a value of over £85 million, achieving 99.2% of the £86 million target.
Compass
Increase to 90% the number of cases with a Pre-Charge Decision.
Met. The national performance for Pre-Charge Decision Consultations in March 2007 was 97.86% compared to a target of 90%. Four Areas achieved 100%, and all but two Areas individually exceeded the national target of 90%.
Increase to 90% the number of cases with a Crown Court trial having completed a full file review.
Not Met. The national performance for Crown Court Reviews in March 2007 was 89.47% against a target of 90%. Twenty-eight Areas have individually reached or exceeded the target of 90% (four achieved 100%), and a further 12 Areas are within 10% of the target.
A joint target of 90% to be achieved by March 2007.
Met. The CPS achieved 93.7%.
Advocacy
Increase in counsel savings made through HCA (Higher Court Advocate) deployment.
Met. The CPS has exceeded its HCA counsel fee savings, achieving £9,617,670 (ex VAT) in counsel fee savings during 2006-07 against a target of £6,808,930. This performance was 141.3% of the set target. Nationally, counsel fee savings for the year were 11% of Graduated Fee Scheme (GFS) advocacy value. HCAs remained value for money with counsel fee savings exceeding the full cost of HCA deployment, by £953,558.
Increase in the % of advocacy dealt with in-house.
Not Met. The CPS has narrowly missed its in-house magistrates' courts coverage target of 81%, undertaking 80.4% of available magistrates' courts sessions in 2006-07.
Payment of fees
Timeliness of GFS payments.
Not Met. The CPS achieved 89.2% against a target of 95%.
Absence
Reduce sickness absence rate.
Not Met. The average number of working day sick per employee was 8.7 days against a target of 7.5 days
