Financial Review
The CPS net Request for Resources (RfR), as voted by Parliament, for the period to 31 March 2010 was £689 million. The outturn on expenditure as shown in the 2009-10 Accounts, Statement of Parliamentary Supply, was £672 million. Note 3 to the Accounts analyses expenditure within the Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) by the Department's two functions, Administration and Crown Prosecutions and Legal Services.
To meet the transitional and up-front costs of modernising and transforming the business of the LODs, the CPS had access to a ring fenced modernisation fund of £17 million. Access to the fund is only provided for costs directly related to efficiency, structural change and modernisation.
During 2009-10 CPS accessed modernisation funding of £12.7 million. These funds were used for the following:
- Assessing progress and performance of the CPS Crown Advocates and external advocates in the Crown Court as part of the Advocacy Quality Management Strategy (AQMS); Modernising and reforming the CPS workforce;
- Management and implementation of the Optimum Business Model (OBM); and
- Leadership development training
Each of these initiatives is intended to help prepare the CPS for the financial and performance challenges ahead. The three main initiatives; AQMS, workforce modernisation and OBM form a significant part of the Department's efficiency programme. Future savings resulting from use of modernisation funding will provide payback within three years.
Financial Results
In delivering the public prosecution service the Department spent £736 million. After taking into account £64 million appropriated in aid the net resource requirement was £672 million, £17 million less than the sum approved by Parliament, which is 2.5% of net provision. CPS resources and expenditure are analysed between Administration Costs and Crown Prosecutions and Legal Services.
Administration represents the costs of running the Department and includes only those costs not attributed to front line services directly associated with the prosecution of criminal cases. Administration includes staff salaries, other staff related expenditure, accommodation and related costs for administrative staff based in CPS Headquarters. Overall the CPS administration outturn was £54 million compared to net provision of £55 million. The outturn represents an increase of £3 million on 2008-09. The majority of the increase is a result of taking on the lease for Rose Court, the new CPS HQ building while continuing to occupy the existing HQ building in Ludgate Hill. There was an inevitable overlap whilst in-going works were completed. There was also an increase of £1 million in professional services charges compared to last year. The costs were incurred in relation to legal and other advice on the extension of the PFI contract, leadership training funded from the Modernisation Fund and the costs of dealing with staff grievances.
Crown Prosecutions and Legal Services cover the direct and indirect costs of taking cases to court. After the cost of front line staff salaries, most of the expenditure is associated with the costs of the more serious cases, which are heard in the Crown Court and comprise the costs of employing barristers as advocates, paying allowances and expenses to prosecution witnesses who attend court, the cost of expert testimony and a number of other less significant costs associated with the prosecution process.
Expenditure on Crown Prosecutions and Legal Services, excluding adjustments for the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), was £590 million compared with provision of £621 million representing an underspend of £31 million. The underspend represents economies made in the year in preparation for the further reduction in available resources in 2010-11 and future years. In addition the Department took the decision to maximise the savings from the merger with RCPO. Estimates were not adjusted to fully reflect the impact of the implementation of IFRS and as a consequence £15 million forms part of this underspend.
Similarly the net total outturn in respect of IFRS adjustments was £15 million more than the Estimate because of an underestimation of the impact of imputed finance lease charges which was not reflected in an adjustment to the Estimate. Further details on the financial effects of the implementation of IFRS are provided below.
In 2009-10 over £62 million of CPS provision for programme costs was provided by way of costs awarded against defendants and collected by the magistrates' courts on behalf of the CPS; the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme and funding for Local Criminal Justice Boards as well as the implementation of Integrated Prosecution Teams in London. The last is an initiative that enables the Metropolitan Police and the CPS to use a jointly administered case file.
Crown Court Advocacy
The CPS uses two fees schemes for the payment of self-employed advocates' fees. The majority of cases in the Crown Court handled by external advocates are paid under the graduated fee scheme (GFS). GFS is a formulaic scheme using a range of measures to determine the fee, and measures include offence category, pages of evidence, numbers of witnesses, outcome type etc. Although fee rates remain unchanged the growth in the size of evidence bundles and a Government focus on bringing more serious crimes to justice creates upward pressure on the fees that CPS pays. The growth in the size of evidence bundles can be explained by the increasing range of evidence seized by investigators from offenders, including mobile phone, Blackberry and home computer evidence.
Over the last four years the number of Crown Court finalisations of defendants charged with indictable-only offences - the most serious cases of all - has risen from 35,654 in 2006-07 to 40,651 in 2009-10 creating upward pressure on costs. Furthermore, the total number of defendant finalisations in the Crown Court has risen by about 16% over the last four years from 123,476 in 2006-07 to 143,196 in 2009-10.
Defendant finalisations increased by almost 20,000 since 2006-07. We estimate that the additional costs of these extra Crown Court finalisations would be over £20 million, based on the average cost of advocacy for a case in the Crown Court, although the use of CPS Crown Advocates (CAs) and better control of costs has helped to offset this pressure.
In general, the extension of recovery of criminal assets, the increasing requirements of disclosure, the conclusion of some extremely large cases, terrorism related prosecutions falling out of intensive activity by secret services and the police, and the increased use of information technology have all meant longer and more complex cases.
Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure is focused on improving the Department's estate and office environment and investment in IT through the PFI arrangement with Logica.
The Department spent a total of £10 million on the purchase of fixed assets which was £3 million more than the Estimate. The overspend was a result of the additions of IT assets through the PFI contract.
The Department's net cash requirement outturn was £664 million against an estimate of £688 million. The variance resulted from uncertainty over the in-year costs that would be incurred from an early severance/retirement scheme that commenced late in the financial year.
Movements in Working Capital other than Cash
During 2009-10 trade receivables and other current assets due within one year increased by £7million from £52 million to £59 million. This is mainly due to an increase in the cost award receivable. Receivable days increased from 313 to 334 days. Cost awards due to the CPS represents over 80% of the total debtors figure. These cost awards are collected by the magistrates' courts on our behalf. Repayment arrangements agreed with defendants by the courts mean that collection can occur over an extended period of time. There was also an increase in accrued income which relates to the commercial tenants in the new HQ building at Rose Court.
In the same period trade payables and other current liabilities increased from £89 million to £107 million. The £18 million increase is mainly due to a £16 million increase in the 'amounts issued from the Consolidated Fund for supply but not spent at year end' figure. The full amount was drawn as to cover the in-year cost of the early severance/retirement exercise which supported the Department's workforce modernisation strategy. There was also an increase in accrued expenditure for counsel fees of £5 million resulting from delays in processing fee notes. Action is in hand to clear the delays and prevent a recurrence. There was an equivalent reduction in trade payables for the same reason.
TABLE Reconciliation of resource expenditure between Estimates, Accounts and Budgets
| Reconciliation of resource expenditure between Estimates, Accounts and Budgets |
2009-10 £000 |
2008-09 £000 |
|---|---|---|
| Net Resource Outturn (Estimates) | 672,191 | 632,394 |
| Prior Period Adjustments | (1,415) | |
| Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts in the OCS | (489) | (165) |
| Machinery of Government Transfer | 33,222 | |
| Net Operating Cost (Accounts) | 671,702 | 664,036 |
| Non voted expenditure in budgets | 28,753 | 28,814 |
| Remove non budget expenditure in accounts | (27,988) | (28,935) |
| Resource Budget Outturn (Budget) | 672,467 | 663,915 |
Implementation of IFRS
During 2009-10 the UK Government adopted IFRS for the first time. In consequence, CPS Statement of Financial Position at 01 April 2009 saw a decrease in taxpayers' equity of £24 million and its operating costs for 2008-09 decreased by £1 million. The decrease in taxpayers' equity was a result of recognising liabilities acquired through PFI contracts amounting to £16 million and an accrual in respect of entitlements to holiday pay of £8 million. The decrease in operating costs associated with the imputed lease payments of £0.7 million, again in relation to PFI contracts, which represents the difference between accounting for the costs of the contract under UK GAAP and under IFRS and a reduction in the cost of capital charge of £0.9 million as a consequence of the recognition of the lease liability, and the in-year cost of the increase in holiday pay of £0.2 million.
Management
Keir Starmer QC was appointed the Director of Public Prosecutions on 1 November 2008. The Chief Executive supports the Director. The Chief Executive has responsibility for finance, human resources, performance management, IT and business and administrative processes, allowing the Director to concentrate on prosecution and legal processes. Peter Lewis was appointed as the Chief Executive on 15 January 2007. The Remuneration Report provides detail of service contracts, salary and pension entitlements for senior officials of the Department.
CPS Board
The CPS Board supports the Director and Chief Executive. It is collectively responsible for the delivery of the CPS's public service outcomes and targets.
During 2009-10 the Board structure remained largely unchanged, with the membership comprising the Director, Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer, Finance Director and Non-executive Directors (NEDs). Doreen Langston joined the Board in June 2009 as the third NED.
In January 2010 David Green QC (formerly Director of RCPO) and Stephen Redmond (formerly a NED of RCPO) joined the CPS Board.
During 2009-10 the structure, composition and terms of reference of the Board's sub-committees were changed as follows:
- The Corporate Development Management Group (CDMG) and the Director's Group (DG) merged, with their memberships rationalised, under the title of Director's Group
- The terms of reference of the DG and Group Chairs Group (GCG) were realigned
- Rob Sykes left the Audit Committee and Doreen Langston joined it, also taking up the Chair, in September 2009.
- The former Chair of RCPO's Audit Committee (Sarah Brown) joined the CPS Audit Committee in January 2010 in parallel with the Board changes above.
The membership of the CPS Board and individuals' attendance during 2009-10 were as follows:
| Board Member | Title | Attendance (out of 6 meetings) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keir Starmer QC | DPP | 6 | |
| Peter Lewis | Chief Executive | 6 | |
| John Graham | Finance Director | 3 of 3 | |
| Paul Staff | Finance Director | 3 of 3 | Acting FD since November 2009 |
| Mike Kennedy | Chief Operating Officer | 6 | |
| David Green QC | Director, Revenue & Customs Division | 2 of 2 | Joined Board in January 2010 |
| Gerard Lemos | Non-executive Director | 5 | |
| Rob Sykes | Non-executive Director | 5 | |
| Doreen Langston | Non-executive Director | 5 out of 5 | Joined Board in June 2009 |
| Stephen Redmond | Non-executive Director | 2 of 2 | Joined Board in January 2010 |
The Board, CDMG / DG, Group Chairs Group (GCG) and the Senior Area Business Managers (SABMs) meet twice yearly to discuss strategic issues and key operational challenges.
The appointment and termination of staff who are members of the CPS Board, excluding the NEDs who are not employed by the CPS, is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code. Where appropriate their remuneration, details of which can be found in the Remuneration Report, is determined by reference to the Senior Salaries Review Body. In the rare event of members holding company directorships or having any significant interests that conflict with their management responsibilities, these are declared and a record kept by the single secretariat. No specific action was required at Board level due to a declaration of interest in 2009-10.
The role of the Board is to:
- Ensure CPS continues to become world class and provides a fair and effective prosecution service;
- Demonstrate visible and effective leadership across the organisation to inspire confidence in staff, CJS and other stakeholders and the public;
- Determine the vision, role, direction and priorities of the CPS;
- Ensure effective allocation and management of the CPS's staff and financial resources;
- Monitor and improve the CPS's performance; and
- Protect and enhance the CPS's reputation as an organisation striving to become a world class prosecution service.
Examples of business covered by the Board include:
- The new Core Quality Standards and their monitoring
- The revised Code for Crown Prosecutors
- The Capability Review Implementation Programme
Corporate Delivery and Management Group/Directors Group
CDMG/DG contribute to the development and delivery of the CPS Vision and Strategy, CPS public service outcomes and other priorities.
Examples of business covered by the CDMG include:
- Change Portfolio;
- Staff Survey
- Capability Review Implementation.
The membership of the CDMG and DG and their attendance during 2009-10 are as follows:
| CDMG/DG Members | Position/Role | CDMG attendance (out of 4 meetings) | DG attendance (out of 5 meetings) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Lewis | Chief Executive | 3 | 5 | |
| John Graham | Finance Director | 4 | 1 out of 1 | Retired November 2009 |
| Paul Staff | Finance Director | n/a | 4 out of 4 | Replaced John Graham from November 2009 |
| Mike Kennedy | Chief Operating Officer | 4 | 4 | |
| David Jones | Business Information Systems Director | 2 | 4 | |
| Roger Daw | Principal Policy Advisor | 1 | 2 | |
| Alison Levitt | Principal Legal Advisor | n/a* | 3 | *Not a member of CDMG |
| Steve Przybylski | Deputy Director Business Development | n/a* | 5 | *Not a member of CDMG |
| Ros McCool | Human Resources Director | 4 | 4 | |
| Dale Simon | Equality and Diversity Director | 1 out of 1 | 5 | Joined CPS in June 2009 |
| Sheila Rogers | Equality and Diversity Director (Acting) | 2 out of 3 | n/a | Left the CPS in 2009 |
| Karen Sawitzki | Senior Business Manager | 4 | n/a | *Not a member of DG |
| Dru Sharpling | CCP London | 3 | n/a | *Not a member of DG |
| Pam Teare | Head of Communication | 3 | 5 |
Group Chairs Group
The GCG contributes to the development and delivery of the CPS Vision and Strategy.
Examples of business covered by the Board include:
- Modernising Charging
- Core Quality Standards
- Asset Recovery.
The membership of the GCG and their attendance during 2009-10 were as follows:
| GCG Members | Position/Role | Attendance (out of 7 meetings) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Lewis | Chief Executive | 7 | Chair until October 2009 |
| Mike Kennedy | Chief Operating Officer | 6 | Chair from January 2010 |
| Nazir Afzal | CCP London (Acting) | 2 out of 2 | September - December |
| David Blundell | Group Chair West Midlands | 1 out of 1 | Retired during 2009 |
| Ken Caley | Group Chair Eastern | 6 | |
| Roger Coe-Salazar | Group Chair South East | 6 | |
| Neil Franklin | Group Chair West/North Yorkshire (now Yorkshire Group) | 6 | |
| Martin Goldman | CCP CPS Direct | 6 | |
| Nick Hawkins | Group Chair Wessex | 6 | |
| John Holt | Group Chair Manchester | 2 out of 4 | Retired during 2009 |
| Barry Hughes | Group Chair South West | 5 | |
| Harry Ireland | Group Chair West Midlands | 4 out of 5 | |
| Bob Marshall | Group Chair North West | 5 | |
| Alison Saunders | Representing Casework Divisions (then as CCP London) | 7 | CCP London from December 2009 |
| Dru Sharpling | CCP London | 2 out of 3 | Left the CPS in September |
| Baljit Ubhey | Group Chair Thames & Chiltern | 6 | |
| Matthew Wagstaff | Representing RCD since January 2010 | 2 out of 2 | Joined GCG in January 2010 |
| Judith Walker | Group Chair East Midlands | 7 | |
| Paul Whittaker | Group Chair Merseyside & Cheshire | 6 | |
| Wendy Williams | Group Chair North East | 7 | |
| Chris Woolley | Group Chair Wales/Cymru | 3 |
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee (AC) supports the Accounting Officers in their responsibilities for issues of internal control, risk and governance by reviewing the comprehensiveness and integrity of assurances in meeting the CPS Board and Accounting Officers' assurance needs. The AC's role and responsibilities remained unchanged throughout the year.
Work undertaken
- Reviewed assurances received in respect of the systems and processes of internal control, risk and governance, which included those provided by Internal Audit, management, the NAO and HMCPSi.
- Reviewed the Head of Internal Audit's Statement on Internal Control and the Annual Resource Accounts for 2009-10, including the observations by the NAO in their capacity as external auditors, and recommended acceptance to the Board.
- Approved and monitored the Internal Audit programme for 2009-10 and the External Auditors' strategy and plan for the 2009-10 Resource Accounts.
| AC Members | Position/Role | Attendance (out of 4 meetings) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rob Sykes | Non-executive Director (Chair) | 1 out of 1 | Retired from the Audit Committee after the June 2009 meeting |
| Doreen Langston | Non-executive Director (Chair) | 3 out of 3 | Joined the Audit Committee as Chair from September 2009 (also attended June 2009 meeting as an observer) |
| David Judd | Non-executive Director | 1 out of 2 | Retired from the Audit Committee after the September 2009 meeting |
| Paula Abrahams | CCP, Suffolk | 3 | |
| Claire Lindley | CCP, Cheshire (previously CPS Cumbria and CPS Staffordshire) | 4 | |
| Caroline Johnstone | Non-executive Member | 3 out of 3 | Joined the Audit Committee August 2009 |
| Richard Szadziewski | Non-executive Member | 3 out of 3 | Joined the Audit Committee August 2009 |
| Sarah Brown | Non-executive Member | 1 out of 1 | Joined the Audit Committee January 2010 (also attended December 2009 as an observer) |
Principal Risks
The principal risks for the CPS, which have been recently reviewed and updated, are set out in the corporate risk register and agreed by the Directors' Group and the CPS Board are in the areas of:
Responding effectively to changing patterns of crime, disposal and volumes of cases where we need to ensure that our resources are deployed flexibly to meet changes in workload.
Managing our commitments to victims and witnesses as resources reduce and priorities may change.
The increasingly demanding financial environment will stretch our financial management capability with the risk of adverse impacts on resource management and usage.
Not achieving the consistent application of Core Quality Standards across our operational Groups, which would affect the overall delivery of an effective public prosecution service.
Identifying poor performance trends and intervening in a timely fashion to ensure standards are maintained.
Meeting our commitments to local communities when there are changing and competing priorities.
The Directors' Group and CPS Board regularly monitor the risks through the corporate risk register and take mitigating action when necessary. The Statement of Internal Control provides a description of the key elements of the risk and control framework.
Pensions
The Accounting Policy Note 1.12 describes the CPS policy on how pension liabilities are treated and the accounting treatment is detailed in Note 8 and in the Remuneration Report.
Equal Opportunities
The CPS has a policy of equal opportunities and aims to create and sustain a working environment that is fair to all. Through commitment, action and review, the aim is to ensure that employment, training and development opportunities are appropriate to the abilities of the individual regardless of their sex, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, disability, religion, age, marital status, working pattern, sexual orientation or gender reassignment.
This policy has been jointly agreed and endorsed by the management and trade union sides of the Departmental Whitley Council. Both parties have affirmed their full support for the principle of equality of opportunity, and are determined to ensure that this policy is effectively implemented at all levels of the Service.
The Department's policy is based on the legislation governing equal opportunities and aims to promote equality of opportunity by following both the spirit and the letter of that legislation. The legislation is: the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999, the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
An Equal and Diverse Prosecution Service
The CPS continually strives to improve its reputation on equality and diversity issues and its work has been positively recognised through the Cabinet Office Capability Review of the CPS in June 2007. The Service is moving on to a third phase in its work to further equality and diversity. It began with an agenda setting and awareness raising period, and then in 2005 the Service moved to an outcome and performance based approach. It will now build on this work and focus on bringing about cultural change to help to secure lasting transformational change on equality and diversity.
The CPS is committed to further progress on equality and diversity in employment and is implementing a Diversity Delivery Plan which sets out what we will do to achieve workforce representation targets.
Reporting of Personal Data Related Incidents
Incidents, the disclosure of which would in itself create an unacceptable risk of harm, may be excluded in accordance with the exemptions contained in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or may be subject to the limitations of the other UK information legislation.
TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF PROTECTED PERSONAL DATA RELATED INCIDENTS FORMALLY REPORTED TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE IN 2009 - 10
No incidents have needed to be reported to the Information Commissioner.
TABLE 2: SUMMARY OF OTHER PROTECTED DATA RELATED INCIDENTS IN 2009 - 10
Incidents deemed by the Data Controller not to fall within the criteria for report to the Information Commissioner's Office but recorded centrally within the Department.
- Total Included Data Loss Incidents
- Category Type I: Loss of inadequately protected electronic equipment, devices or paper documents from secured Government premises = 0 incidents
- Category Type II: Loss of inadequately protected electronic equipment, devices or paper documents from outside secured Government premises = 4 incidents
- Category Type III: Insecure disposal of inadequately protected electronic equipment, devices or paper documents = 2 incidents
- Category Type IV: Unauthorised disclosure = 3 incidents
- Category Type V: Other = 7 incidents
- Total = 16 incidents
- Lost/Stolen Blackberries = 4 incidents
- Lost/Stolen Laptops = 2 incidents
Explanatory Note: To put the losses into context the CPS handles approximately a million defendant cases in a year. Most of these files make at least one journey to Court and the CPS also serves evidence, mostly on paper, to the Courts and solicitors/barristers.
Included - 16 personal data loss incidents are included for the purposes of this report. The majority of these incidents occurred either in transit between sites or at Court. All of these relate to very small amounts of information - often single items.
Excluded - 45 incidents have been excluded from the report because the loss was very minor, the material was misplaced and subsequently found, or was solely the responsibility of another data controller (19).
Lost/Stolen Laptops/Blackberries: The Laptops and Blackberries were all encrypted to the government standard.
Staff Engagement
Employee engagement is described as employees' willingness and ability to invest their personal effort in the success of the CPS. The CPS recognises that this is critical to retaining key talent and securing high levels of individual, team and organisational performance.
The CPS participated in the Civil Service wide People Survey in 2009 which amongst many other indicators, assessed employees' experiences and measured their level of engagement. The 2009 staff survey showed some substantial improvements since the 2008 survey. The question relating to seeking ways to improve the Service has increased by 23% to 68%. The question relating to being treated with fairness and respect has increased by 21% to 79%, and the question around feeling valued has increased by 13% to 51%. There is evidence of increased and improved levels of management support and intervention - 52% of staff say their manager motivates them to be more effective, up from 45% in 2008; and 52% say they receive regular feedback, up from 41% in 2008.
Key actions have been identified for improvement and incorporated into CPS projects and programmes. To reinforce its importance, local staff engagement has been measured through robust 'People Measures' activities across the Service and the implementation of the CPS Employee Engagement Plan.
The CPS trades unions play an important part in staff engagement through their wider role in representing employees. During the year, the CPS has worked well with the FDA and PCS unions regarding consultation and information about the merger of the RCPO and the CPS. The CPS and the trades unions have an Employee Relations Framework Agreement which sets out arrangements to promote effective negotiation, consultation and information sharing. It forms part of a wider, ongoing strategy and programme to build constructive, forward-looking employee relations within the CPS.
In 2008, the CPS agreed a reward and recognition strategy that described how the CPS would modernise its pay structures over the three years to April 2011. These changes form part of the three-year pay award, which was implemented in November 2008.
Employee Consultation and Providing Information to Employees
The CPS has continued its strategy of communicating and consulting with staff, both formally and informally. The main hub for the promulgation of business information is from an area on the CPS Infonet called "Infonet Live". From here staff can access weekly business updates, news and information produced by Areas and HQ Directorates for a more local perspective, as well as the monthly publication Eye Witness, which is also produced in hard copy and goes to an audience beyond the CPS.
The CPS Infonet home page provides a portal to a number of themed areas as well as an online bulletin board, which is used to discuss a variety of business and social subjects. The Intranet is becoming an important communication tool for the Department, as it moves to more sustainable working practices, with manuals and standard forms from across the different directorates also published online, including the CPS HR policy procedures. Staff are informed about items of change through team meetings and by newsletters circulated by project managers.
Sickness Absence
The CPS Attendance Management and Wellbeing Strategy promotes the proactive and sensitive management of absence and has led to an improvement in sickness absence performance. There was a small reduction in average working days lost to sickness - down from 8.7 days per employee in the year to December 2008, to 8.5 days in the year to December 2009.
Payment of Suppliers and Witnesses
The CPS is committed to paying bills in accordance with agreed contractual conditions, or, where no such conditions exist, within 30 days of receipt of goods or services or the presentation of a valid invoice, whichever is later. The CPS also seeks to pay all expenses to prosecution witnesses within 5 working days of receipt of a correctly completed claim form.
In 2009-10 the CPS settled 90.41% of undisputed invoices within 30 days of receipt and 94.45% of witness claims within 5 days. Trade payables fell by £6.4 million from £18.8 million to £12.4 million and creditor days decreased from 20 days to 13 days. In terms of the government's 10 day payment target, in 2009-10 the CPS paid 75% of all external invoices, fees and claims within 10 days. The department is reviewing systems and processes to identify further scope for improvement.
During the year the proportion of suppliers paid through the Government's Zanzibar 'Purchase to Pay' portal increased. In 2010-11 and beyond this trend will continue and eventually the CPS will mandate the use of purchase orders across all expenditure, including prosecution costs. The CPS paid £666 with respect to interest due under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
Events after the reporting period
On 12 May 2010 the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon David Cameron MP, appointed Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP as Attorney General. Edward Garnier QC MP, was appointed Solicitor General on 13 May 2010.
There have been no events that would have a material impact on the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2010.
Reporting Cycle
The CPS produces a three year Corporate Business strategy and an Annual Business Plan. The Annual Business Plan is submitted by the Chief Executive to the Attorney General in April and sets out the Department's priorities, objectives and annual performance targets. It is the definitive document against which the Department's annual performance will be measured.
The CPS's statutory authority to consume resources and spend the cash that finances its spending plans comes from the annual Main Estimate which is presented to Parliament, as part of the Supply Procedure, by HM Treasury around the start of the financial year to which the Estimate relates.
Supplementary Estimates are presented as necessary during the year as the means for seeking Parliament's approval to additional resources and/or cash or revisions to the Main Estimate.
An Annual Report and set of Resource Accounts covering the Department's work for the preceding year are published each year. These include information on the Department's performance against key performance indicators. Some 2009-10 performance data (in Annex B) is not yet available. The Annual Report and audited Accounts are laid before Parliament following the relevant statutory requirements.
The Annual Report and Resource Accounts may be accessed at www.cps.gov.uk
