Management Commentary
Operating and Financial Review
a) Operating Review
(i) 2010 Spending Review
The SR2010 settlement for the Law Officers' Departments was announced on 20 October 2010. For the CPS the settlement represents a 25% real terms reduction in the net Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL) over the four year period to 2014-15.
Achieving this reduction presents real challenges, but the CPS has been making careful preparations for some time and the organisation is as well placed as it can be to deliver these savings. Ahead of the settlement the CPS had implemented the following measures:
- A service-wide recruitment freeze;
- Plans to significantly reduce the size and costs of headquarters to release resources to the front line;
- Renegotiation of the contract for IT and communications to achieve savings of at least 20% by 2014-15;
- Introduction of a strategy to deliver a ratio of 8:10 for IT equipment and workstations;
- Relocation of headquarters and casework Divisions from Ludgate Hill to Rose Court;
- Development of an Estates Strategy that will enable the closure of smaller uneconomic offices; and
- Development of a procurement strategy to maximise opportunities for collaborative procurement and introducing a digital Procure to Pay (P2P) system.
The recruitment controls in place since August 2009 have helped to reduce staff numbers appreciably. These controls, supported by a four year Workforce Capacity Plan, will remain and by 2015 the CPS will be a smaller organisation focused on delivering the core services of the department. At headquarters, the number of posts, including at the most senior levels, has been reduced significantly and each headquarters Director has agreed a plan to reduce the number of posts by approximately 50% by the end of March 2014 compared to the December 2009 baseline. To help to achieve reductions in headquarters and operational Areas the CPS ran a voluntary early release scheme in 2010-11 and there will be a similar, larger exercise in 2011-12.
The reduction in headquarters is part of our strategy to direct resources to maintain front-line delivery of the service. However, the scale of the budget reductions means that the front line cannot remain untouched, and the CPS must maximise the productivity of our staff through improvements in systems, processes, performance and organisational structure. We will do this in concert with our partners in the CJS, who face similar financial pressures.
The CPS has in hand a number of initiatives which are improving the efficiency of our processes to enable us to manage the same workload and maintain Core Quality Standards with fewer staff. These include:
- Adoption of the Optimum Business Model (OBM) for both Crown Court and Magistrates' Courts;
- Criminal Justice - Simple, Speedy, Summary (CJSSS);
- Modernising Charging; and
- Streamlining our reporting requirements and empowering front-line staff so that decisions are taken at the level closest to the issues.
The enhancement of IT infrastructure to deliver full digital working is a critical part of our plans to improve efficiency. Our aim is to reduce costs radically, while maintaining and strengthening the capability to protect the public by robust and effective prosecutions. By October this year we expect to have the technology in place and from that point we will move rapidly to implement all elements of digital working.
Planning for the post-Spending Review environment has emphasised the requirement for criminal justice agencies, including the CPS, to address urgently the inefficiencies that separation and fragmentation can cause. The recently introduced strategic CJS governance arrangements promote collaborative approaches and common ownership. Encouraging early signs that these new arrangements are having an impact include cross-departmental agreement to accelerate moves to a digital CJS by April 2012, the streamlined administration of cases and the consistent enforcement of the Criminal Procedure Rules.
The CPS has developed staffing profiles for the full period of the Spending Review, reflecting normal staff turnover rates and the application of an early voluntary release scheme in the next two years. From 1 April 2011 we began restructuring the organisation into 13 geographic Areas in order to reduce overheads and improve resilience.
We continue to be confident that, through careful planning, introducing smarter and better ways of working and offering those who wish to leave on voluntary terms the opportunity to do so, we can avoid compulsory redundancies. We are committed to this principle and wish to work with our managers, staff and trade unions to achieve this aim.
(ii) Social and Community Matters
The CPS works in partnership with the other criminal justice agencies to respond to the concerns of local communities. We have a programme of community engagement, both nationally and in our operational Areas, to ensure that we are aware of the priorities of local communities. This commitment is expressed in Core Quality Standard 12 and performance is assessed on a quarterly and annual basis at local and national level.
There is a national Community Accountability Forum, that includes partners from national community organisations, through which we engage, involve and consult on a range of priorities. Shortly, we will also establish a National Scrutiny Panel that will scrutinise issues of national importance including hate crime and violence against women cases.
Building on the firm foundations of our hate crime scrutiny panels and community involvement panels, we are setting up Area Local Involvement and Scrutiny Panels to involve communities in planning, scrutiny and the analysis of local data.
(iii) Sustainability
Note: As part of its sustainable development strategy the Government requires public sector bodies to disclose their sustainability reports within their annual report and accounts from 2011-12. 2010-11 is a "dry run" year for public sector bodies and the following paragraphs constitute the CPS's first formal sustainability report. Further information is published at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/frem_sustainability.htm
Summary of performance
The Crown Prosecution Service is committed to government policy to improve sustainability and contributes to the Law Officers' Departments' (LODs) Sustainable Development Action Plan (SDAP), which contains the actions required to meet centrally set targets which are reported annually in the Sustainability in Government (SDiG) Report. The Sustainable Operation on the Government Estate (SOGE) targets expire in 2010/11 and New Greening Government Commitment (GGC) targets start from 1 April 2011.
The CPS has met the target on emissions by reducing its energy emissions by at least 12.5 % against its baseline. Part of the energy used is deemed renewable as well as coming from good quality Combined Heat and Power (CHP).
The CPS Headquarters building at Rose Court receives 100% renewable energy and the majority of our buildings receive at least 10% renewable energy and 15% good quality CHP. We are also on target to meet the Prime Minister's 10% reduction in emissions target announced in May 2010.
The CPS has set up the following actions to improve sustainability:
- We are replacing outdated gas and electricity meters on the majority of our estate with new smart meters. This will reduce running costs and lead to us only paying for the energy actually used;
- Ten of our major energy user sites have been selected to use an environmental management system to reduce their impact on the environment. Each of these sites now has a "Green Champion". The Green Champions will be used to further spread the message to other nearby sites and their areas;
- Our headquarters at Rose Court has successfully piloted the workplace standard of 8 desks per 10 person ratio, introduced Multi Function Devices (MFDs) and removed all bins from under desks. Waste is now collected at central points on each floor to encourage recycling and reduce the overall volume of waste. We expect to implement these initiatives across other parts of our estate over the coming year;
- The replacement of our IT equipment as part of a set programme of technology refreshes with equipment that uses less power has helped us reduce energy consumption and our CO2 emissions;
- We are well on track to have a central cleaning contract across our estate which is supporting our waste data collection and we now have procedures in place to reduce office temperatures over holiday periods;
- We are working with our managing agents to establish our utility usage and waste generated at our sites where we do not have direct responsibility for these areas;
- We are reviewing our utility invoice paying mechanisms with a view to making them completely electronic;
- Later this year a review of our travel and subsistence policies will be taking place to make this policy more sustainable;
- We, along with the other LOD members, have signed up to the Carbon Trust's Carbon Management Programme and have a joint LOD Carbon Management plan, for which we are in the process of achieving sign off; and
- The CPS is a member of and the secretariat to the LOD Sustainable Development Steering Group.
Procurement
The Department promotes sustainability in our procurement by:
- Buying fewer environmentally damaging products and services;
- Complying with environmental legislation and regulatory requirements;
- Including relevant environmental conditions or criteria in specification and tender documents, and evaluating supplier offers accordingly; and
- Raising awareness of environmental issues within the Department, and amongst suppliers and contractors.
Governance
The Solicitor General represents the Law Officers' Departments (LODs) on Sustainable Development matters. The minister is supported by the LOD SD Steering Group chaired by the CPS Finance Director. The CPS is the Secretariat to this Group and represents the LODs on any relevant SD committees.
Our results against the SOGE targets are reported annually in the Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) Report although this is likely to change following the introduction of the new GGC targets.
Governance arrangements are currently being reviewed and will be formalised later in the year.
Performance Data
The tables below set out the CPS's performance against the key sustainability targets. Some of these targets were set by the previous government and remain under development for future reporting periods.
Crown Prosecution Service Sustainability Report for the Year Ended 31 March 2011
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
| Non-financial indicators tCO2e | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Gross Emissions for Scopes 1 & 2 | 9,300 | 9,994 | 8,930 |
| Gross Emissions Scope 3 Business Travel | 1,916 | 1,783 | 2,017 |
| Related Energy Consumption (kWh) | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity: Non Renewable | N/A | N/A | 6,696 |
| Electricity: Renewable | N/A | N/A | 6,722 |
| Gas | N/A | N/A | 8,982 |
| Financial Indicators (£k) | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expenditure on Energy - Scope 1 & 2 | 2,052 | 2,328 | 1,602 |
| CRC Licence Expenditure | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Expenditure on Accredited Offsets | N/A | N/A | 3 |
| Expenditure on Official Business Travel | 5,575 | 5,427 | 3,707 |
Commentary
Scope 1 and 2 emissions include energy used by the department and its commercial sub-tenants. Specific targets are not available with regard to gross emissions but the CPS has met the SOGE targets of reducing emissions by 12.5% by March 2011. The CPS's electricity supply is made up of brown, renewable and good quality combined heat and power. The expenditure and emissions figures above reflect this breakdown. The information above is from the CPS's controlled estate where it pays the utility invoices direct to the supplier. It does not show the utility use paid directly by our landlords as part of the service charges incurred. The recovery of this data through managing agents for future periods is being reviewed. The expenditure on accredited offsets relates to the 2009/10 financial year paid in 2010/11.
Emissions for Scope 3 relate to recorded business travel including staff-owned cars; fleet and hire cars; air travel and train travel purchased within the relevant contracts. Currently, emissions from bus, taxi and some train/tube travel, where tickets are purchased outside of our travel contract, are not quantifiable. However, following the planned introduction of electronic travel expense claims in 2011-12, this data should be available for future reporting periods. The expenditure data shows all of the recorded expenditure on business travel.
The CPS currently operates a fleet of 20 vehicles. According to local needs the vehicles range from a Hybrid car with emissions of 104g/km to large vans with emissions of 191g/km. The majority of vehicles are small vans. The CPS has successfully reduced the average vehicle emissions rating from 178g/km in April 2007 to 144g/km in March 2011. The need for fleet vehicles should reduce as the CPS becomes less reliant on paper files.
Waste
| Waste - Non-financial indicators (t) (Non Hazardous Waste) |
2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landfill | 214 | 210 | 403 |
| Reused/Recycled | 930 | 2,682 | 2,966 |
| Incinerated/Energy from waste | N/A | N/A | 79 |
| Waste - Financial Indicators (£k) (Non Hazardous Waste) |
2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landfill | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Reused/Recycled | N/A | N/A | 821 |
| Incinerated/Energy from waste | N/A | N/A | 12 |
Commentary
The CPS has a national contract in place for the removal and secure destruction of paper waste. Approximately 99% of the waste generated is recycled and turned into tissue-based products. To ensure that security is not compromised there is no pre-sorting of the CPS paper waste. Unfortunately this means approximately 1% of the shredded waste (staples, plastics, etc.) cannot be recycled into tissue/paper products.
The CPS produces general office waste that is currently handled in several ways. Six buildings (including the headquarters at Rose Court) have general office waste collected through the national Property and Facilities Management (FM) services contract. Waste from these sites is either sent to Waste-to-Energy plants or is segregated to minimise the amount of waste sent to landfill. A further ten sites are in the process of being moved over to the national contract. The offices due to move over to the national contract will see under-desk bins replaced with communal waste points. This facilitates easier segregation of waste and allows better use to be made of cleaners' time.
Waste removal services at other premises will be assessed over the next six months and where appropriate the services will be added to the national contract. Some buildings have waste collection services provided by the Landlord and re-charged through a service charge. Our managing agents have contacted the Landlords of our ten biggest buildings for information on waste management policies. Encouraging responses have so far been received from two of these Landlords.
The strategy to use the national FM contract has several benefits. It facilitates integration with cleaning services as the same contractor is actively involved with the movement of waste within a building and the removal of that waste from the building. Aggregating spend through one supplier means that the cost of waste removal is decreasing. In several buildings this has meant the collection savings will re-pay the initial investment in communal bins for segregating waste within one year. Central management of waste services also ensures more efficient and reliable management information on collection frequency and waste volumes.
The increase in waste in 2009-10 and 2010-11 is in part due to the relocation of the CPS headquarters to Rose Court, which involved disposing of the fixtures and fittings of the previous premises. The CPS has a contract in place for the removal, re-use and recycling of redundant office furniture. In 2010-11 all furniture waste collected from the CPS offices was either re-used or recycled.
Finite Resource Consumption
| Finite Resource Consumption | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-financial indicators (m3) Water Consumption |
49,682 | 51,907 | 34,970 |
| Financial Indicators (£k) Water Supply Costs |
237 | 166 | 113 |
Commentary
The data shown demonstrates our recorded water consumption and our water costs. The consumption figures relates to the metered water supply in m3. The costs include metered water, rated water and water cooler costs. Consideration has been given to moving to water meters but the majority of the sites are not suitable.
The target refers to the commitment to reduce water consumption by 25% by 2020 against a 2007-08 baseline. A new target is currently being agreed.
Note: The CPS incorporated the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office during 2009-10, expenditure data for 2008-09 is for the CPS only, whilst 2009-10 and 2010-11 includes the combined department.
b) Financial Review
The CPS's net Request for Resources (RfR), as voted by Parliament, for the period to 31 March 2011 was £643 million.
The net outturn on expenditure as shown in the 2010-11 Accounts, Statement of Parliamentary Supply, was £614 million.
Financial Results
In delivering the public prosecution service the Department spent a total of £685 million. After taking into account £71 million income appropriated in aid, the total net resource requirement was £614 million which was £29 million or 4.6% less than the sum voted to the CPS by Parliament. An explanation of the reductions in expenditure is given below. The department benefited from £5.7 million additional income as a result of leaving the headquarters building in Ludgate Hill. There was also a significant release of provisions of almost £13 million, which had the effect of reducing overall net expenditure. Both transactions are unusual and unlikely to occur in future years. Further detail is given in the following paragraphs.
Net total resources
The table below shows the CPS's resource consumption since 2006-07. It reveals that last year we spent less than in any other year in this period and that between 2009-10 and 2010-11 net expenditure fell by £58 million or 8.6%. This was the result of careful planning prior to the 2010 Spending Review that brought about a reduction in staff costs of £11 million (Note 7a), a reduction in other administration costs (which excludes staff salaries) of £8 million (Note 8) and a reduction of net programme costs (also excluding staff salaries) of £35 million (Note 9). A rise in income of £7.8 million added to the fall in total net resource consumption (see below).
Graph: Net Total Resources 2006-2011
Graph data:
- 2006-07 = £616m
- 2007-08 = £633m
- 2008-09 = £632m
- 2009-10 = £672m
- 2010-11 = £614m
Income
When costs are awarded by courts, the CPS recovers some of the costs of its prosecutions from defendants and is allowed to recognise these cost awards as income. In addition, the CPS recovers criminal assets through its confiscation, restraint and enforcement activity and under the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme the department retains a proportion of the value of the assets so recovered.
Over the year the CPS received net income of £72.3 million - an increase of 12.1% over the equivalent figure from 2009-10 of £64.5 million. Whilst the majority of the CPS's income is made up of recovered criminal assets and awards of court costs, the greater part of the increase was attributable to a premium of £5.7 million received for the early vacation of the main headquarters building in Ludgate Hill, London.
The table below shows that over the last five years the CPS's income has grown steadily.
Graph: Income 2006-2011
Graph data:
- 2006-07 = £45m
- 2007-08 = £58m
- 2008-09 = £61m
- 2009-10 = £65m
- 2010-11 = £71m
The CPS's 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. It includes staff salaries, other staff-related expenditure, accommodation and related costs for administrative staff based in the CPS Headquarters and accounts for 6.4% of net resource outturn.
Overall, the CPS's net outturn against its Administration budget was £39.0 million compared to net provision of £48.0 million (Note 3b). The outturn represents a decrease of £15.1 million or 28.0% against the figure of £54.1 million for 2009-10 and was the result of lower spending on salaries, accommodation and consultancy. During the year headquarters operations were streamlined and re-structured so that key functions remained fully resourced and effective.
Crown Prosecutions and Legal Services cover the direct and indirect costs of taking cases to court and makes up 90% of the CPS's total resource expenditure (Note 2). 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.
In 2010-11 net expenditure on Crown Prosecutions and Legal Services was £550 million compared with provision of £558 million representing an underspend of £8 million and a reduction of £40 million against the equivalent figure for 2009-10 (£590 million). The reduction was driven by relentless pressure to deliver efficiencies. In respect of expenditure under the graduated fee scheme greater control of counsel fees led to a reduction in unit cost of 4.0%.
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 has created upward pressure on the fees that the 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 42,019 in 2010-11 creating upward pressure on costs. Furthermore, the total number of defendant finalisations in the Crown Court has risen by about 22% over the last five years from 123,476 in 2006-07 to 150,872 in 2010-11.
Annual defendant finalisations have increased by almost 28,000 since 2006-07 and we estimate that the additional costs of these extra Crown Court finalisations is over £27 million, based on the average cost of advocacy for a case in the Crown Court. However, the use of the 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 £3.1 million on the purchase of fixed assets which was £2.0 million less than the budget (Note 4). The underspend followed the introduction of tighter controls over capital expenditure and the rise in the capitalisation threshold from £500 to £2,000. This latter change aligns the CPS with most government departments and means that many low value purchases of office furniture and equipment are no longer classified as capital assets.
Movements in Working Capital other than Cash
The closing balance on trade receivables and other current assets due within one year remained effectively static, falling £0.2 million from £59.0 million in 2009-10 to £58.8 million in 2010-11.
Having risen from 314 to 334 between 2008-09 and 2009-10, in 2010-11 debtor days decreased by 10% to 300 days. This was the result of improved enforcement and higher recovery rates by courts which in turn resulted in an increase in cash receipts of 14% (to £38.2 million in 2010-11 from £33.5 million in 2009-10).
In the same period trade payables and other current liabilities fell from £107 million to £86 million. The £21 million decrease was driven mainly by falls of £10.9 million in the year end Consolidated Fund creditor and of £7.5 million in accruals and deferred income. This last was made up of reductions in accrued counsel fees, holiday pay and capital expenditure. The reduction in accrued counsel fees arose because of some improvements in the management of the system for paying such fees. There remains more work to be done to move from the current resource intensive paper-based system to one that exploits available technology. The project to deliver this change will deliver incremental benefits and savings over the next two years.
Provisions for liabilities and charges
At the end of the financial year the CPS held total provisions of £15.9 million. Of this, £10.8 million was to cover the future cost of early departures and £5.1 million was for other expenses including relatively small amounts to cover personal injury and employment tribunal claims.
The closing provisions balance of £15.9 million was £13.0 million lower than the equivalent figure in the 2009-10 accounts, reflecting a release of provisions for early departures of £11.3 million and of other provisions of £1.5 million. The release of provision for early departures arose following a thorough review and re-working of the methodology and estimation technique used to assess these future liabilities. The current estimated liabilities are both more accurate and more realistic than those used in previous years.
Where, previously, provisions were made on the basis of estimates made at the point of departure and an assumption that the majority of scheme members who took advantage of early departure packages had a retirement date of 65 years, the revised methodology calculates future liabilities on the basis of the amounts actually paid. It also reflects a change in the treatment of staff with retained rights up to the age of 65 that was introduced from 1 October 2008. This change has the effect that, regardless of retirement date, the CPS's ongoing liabilities for individuals ends at age 60, rather than 65.
As the release of provision arose from a change in estimation technique and because, in addition, the source data for the new methodology was not available at the time the 2009-10 accounts were prepared, the opening Statement of Financial Position has not been re-stated.
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment and intangible assets showed falls over the equivalent figures for 2009-10. In the case of property, plant and equipment the reduction was largely accounted for by a drop in the net book value of information technology assets of £7.1 million caused by downwards revaluation and depreciation. In the case of intangible assets the fall of £4.1 million was due to amortisation charged in year.
Cash and cash equivalents
The CPS held £13.1 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting year - a reduction of £11.5 million from the 2009-10 balance of £24.6 million. This fall was caused by cash outflows that were greater than the CPS's supply from the Consolidated Fund which fell by £60.3 million (from £679.9 million in 2009-10 to £619.6 million in 2010-11). Against this, net cash flows from operating activities amounted to £616.6 million, from investing activities were £4.4 million and from financing activities were £8.6 million: a total of £629.6 million (£662.7 million in 2009-10). The fall was accentuated by a cash payment of £1.5 million to the Consolidated Fund.
Reconciliation of resource expenditure between Estimates, Accounts and Budgets
| Description | 2010-11 £000 |
2009-10 £000 |
|---|---|---|
| Net Resource Outturn (Estimates) | 613,625 | 672,191 |
| Adjustments to additionally include: | ||
| Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts in the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure (a) | (1,242) | (489) |
| Net Operating Cost (Accounts) | 612,383 | 671,702 |
| Adjustments to remove: | ||
| Voted expenditure outside the budget (b) | (28,331) | (27,988) |
| Adjustments to additionally include: | ||
| Non-voted expenditure in the budget (c) | 28,529 | 28,727 |
| Resource Budget Outturn (Budget) | 612,581 | 672,441 |
| of which | ||
| Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) | 616,951 | 672,441 |
| Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) | (4,370) |
This table reconciles the outturn as reported in the Resource Accounts to the Resource Budget Outturn.
(a) Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts (CFERS) are miscellaneous amounts that the CPS is not able to recognise as income and which are surrendered directly to the Consolidated Fund.
(b) Voted expenditure outside the budget relates to charges in respect of the CPS's two PFI contracts arising from the adoption of IFRS.
(c) Non-voted expenditure in the budget relates to nominal payments under operating leases which are recognised in the European System of Accounts (ESA) which underpins the Government's budgeting framework but not within either accounting or Estimates frameworks, which both reflect International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
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 criminal justice policy, 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, targets and contribution to the Criminal Justice System.
During 2010-11 the Board structure remained largely unchanged, with the membership comprising the Director, Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer, Finance Director and Non-executive Directors (NEDs).
The membership of the CPS Board and individuals' attendance during 2010-11 were as follows:
| Board Member | Title | Attendance (out of 5 meetings) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keir Starmer QC | DPP - Chair | 5 | |
| Peter Lewis | Chief Executive | 5 | |
| Mike Kennedy | Chief Operating Officer | 4 | |
| Paul Staff | Director Finance | 5 | |
| David Green QC | Director Central Fraud Group | 4 | |
| Doreen Langston | Non-executive Director | 5 | |
| Gerard Lemos | Non-executive Director | 3 of 3 | Left the Board after October meeting |
| Stephen Redmond | Non-executive Director | 3 of 4 | Left the Board after December meeting |
| Rob Sykes | Non-executive Director | 4 |
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 2010-11.
The role of the Board is to:
- Ensure the CPS is a high-performing, streamlined, prosecution service relentlessly focused on quality and respected for its professionalism;
- 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.
Directors Group
Directors Group (DG) contributes to the development and delivery of the CPS Vision and Strategy, the CPS public service outcomes and other priorities.
Examples of business covered by the DG include:
- Change Portfolio;
- Staff Survey; and
- Capability Review Implementation.
The membership of the DG and their attendance during 2010-11 was as follows:
| DG Member | Position/Role | Attendance (out of 5 meetings) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Lewis | Chief Executive - Chair | 5 | |
| Keir Starmer QC | DPP | 4 | |
| Mike Kennedy | Chief Operating Officer | 5 | |
| Roger Daw | Director of Strategy & Policy | 2 of 2 | Left the CPS August 2010 |
| Nick Hunt | Director of Strategy & Policy | 2 of 3 | Joined DG September 2010 |
| Steve Przybylski | Head of Operations | 2 of 2 | Left the CPS September 2010 |
| Adrian Foster | Head of Operations | 2 of 2 | Joined DG September 2010 |
| Paul Staff | Director Finance | 4 | |
| David Jones | Chief Information Officer | 2 | |
| Alison Levitt | Principal Legal Advisor | 3 | |
| Ros McCool | Director HR | 2 of 2 | Left the CPS September 2010 |
| Mark Summerfield | Director HR | 3 of 3 | Joined DG September 2010 |
| Dale Simon | Director Equality & Diversity | 5 | |
| Pam Teare | Director Communications | 5 |
Group Chairs Group (GCG)
The GCG contributes to the development and delivery of the CPS Vision and Strategy.
Examples of business covered by the GCG include:
- Modernising Charging;
- Core Quality Standards; and
- Asset Recovery.
The membership of the GCG and their attendance during 2010-11 were as follows:
| GCG Member | Position/Role | Attendance (out of 7 meetings) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Kennedy | Chief Operating Officer - Chair | 7 | |
| Jim Brisbane | Group Chair Wales | 6 of 6 | Joined GCG June 2010 |
| Chris Woolley | Group Chair Wales | 1 of 1 | Left the CPS May 2010 |
| Ken Caley | Group Chair Eastern | 5 | |
| Roger Coe-Salazar | Group Chair South East | 5 | |
| Adrian Foster | Head of Operations | 4 of 4 | Joined GCG September 2010 |
| Neil Franklin | Group Chair Yorkshire | 6 | |
| Martin Goldman | CCP CPS Direct | 7 | |
| Nick Hawkins | Group Chair Wessex | 4 | |
| Sue Hemming | Head of Counter Terrorism Division | 4 | |
| Barry Hughes | Group Chair South West | 6 | |
| Harry Ireland | Group Chair West Midlands | 7 | |
| Bob Marshall | Group Chair North West | 6 | |
| Alun Milford | Head of Organised Crime Division | 4 | |
| Greg McGill/Grace Ononiwu | Legal Directors, CPS London | 6 | |
| Alison Saunders | Chief Crown Prosecutor (CCP) London | 5 | |
| Baljit Ubhey | Group Chair Thames & Chiltern | 7 | |
| Matthew Wagstaff | Central Fraud Group | 5 | |
| Judith Walker | Group Chair East Midlands | 7 | |
| Paul Whittaker | Group Chair Merseyside & Cheshire | 6 | |
| Wendy Williams | Group Chair North East | 7 |
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee (AC) supports the Accounting Officers and the CPS Board in their responsibilities for issues of internal control, risk and governance by reviewing the comprehensiveness and integrity of management and executive assurances. 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 2010-11, including the observations by the NAO in their capacity as external audit, and recommended acceptance to the Board.
- Approved and monitored the Internal Audit programme for 2010-11 and the External Auditors' strategy and plan for the 2010-11 Resource Accounts.
| AC Members | Position/Role | Attendance (out of 4 meetings) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doreen Langston | Non-executive Chair | 4 | |
| Sarah Brown | Non-executive Member | 3 | |
| Caroline Johnstone | Non-executive Member | 4 | |
| Richard Szadziewski | Non-executive Member | 4 |
Principal Risks
The principal risks for the CPS are set out in the corporate risk register and agreed by the Directors Group and the CPS Board. They 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 the 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.
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, it ensures 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 the Equality Act 2010.
The CPS is committed to further progress on equality and diversity in employment and service delivery and is currently developing its equality objectives which will set out what we will do to improve our workforce representation and comply with our equality obligations.
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 2010 - 11
No incidents have needed to be reported to the Information Commissioner.
Table 2: Summary Of Other Protected Data Related Incidents In 2010 - 11
- Total Included Data Loss Incidents
- Category Type I: Loss of inadequately protected electronic equipment, devices or paper documents from secured Government premises = 4 incidents
- Category Type II: Loss of inadequately protected electronic equipment, devices or paper documents from outside secured Government premises = 8 incidents
- Category Type III: Insecure disposal of inadequately protected electronic equipment, devices or paper documents = 1 incident
- Category Type IV: Unauthorised disclosure = 19 incidents
- Category Type V: Other = 4 incidents
- Total = 36 incidents
- Lost/Stolen Blackberries = 8 incidents
- Lost/Stolen Laptops = 5 incidents
Explanatory Note: The incidents relating to loss of information have involved details from a single case file. 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 in addition the CPS serves evidence on both the Court and solicitors and barristers (both defence and prosecution). The Departmental Security Unit continues to produce guidance and Gateway notices reminding staff of the security measures that should be adhered to when handling the CPS's information.
Included - 36 personal data incidents have been included as losses for the purposes of this report. The majority of these incidents involved poor handling of the data leading to inadvertent unauthorised disclosure to others.
Excluded - 11 incidents have been excluded from the report because the loss was very minor concerning a limited amount of personal data.
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 department 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 2010 which amongst many other indicators, assessed employees' experiences and measured their level of engagement. As an organisation over the coming year we will be looking to make significant improvements in our staff engagement and ultimately our current Employee Engagement Index (EEI) of 53%. The Civil Service benchmark was 56% for 2010 and we are aspiring to be nearer the high performance benchmark which was 62%. The EEI of 53% is disappointing and may reflect, in part, the uncertainty throughout the organisation of the potential impact of the Spending Review settlement. There has already been a significant increase in communications to all staff on how the department will continue to perform to a high standard over the next four years and the following paragraphs explain how we intend to improve employee engagement in the future.
The 2010 People Survey results have shown that in the CPS we are involved in the sort of work that engenders a sense of pride and commitment in delivering a service to the public and we are seeing improvements in staff feedback about their local management environment.
Although there are a number of areas to be investigated further, the CPS has focused on those issues for the corporate response which have been identified as influencing our key drivers of engagement. The top three drivers of engagement for the CPS are:
- Leadership and managing change;
- My work; and
- My line manager.
To demonstrate its importance, the annual EEI has been incorporated into the CPS Scorecard as a performance measure.
Work has also begun to widen the scope on staff engagement to include the different strands that impact on this area, not just actions resulting from the People Survey, and the development of a People Strategy to support the developing Business Plan is underway. The new approach combines the wider staff engagement issue with the People Strategy and People Survey, in the form of a project, currently under the working title of "CPS Involving Our People Programme".
The CPS trade unions play an important part in staff engagement through their wider role in representing employees and have been fully involved in the development of the CPS People Programme Strategy. 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.
Sickness Absence
There has been a rise in average working days lost to sickness - up from 8.5 days per employee in the year to December 2009 to 9.0 days in the year to December 2010. It is likely that this trend will be reflected across other Departments because of the influence of the spending review on staff morale and attendance rates.
We are expecting to see a return to a positive trend following:
- An organisation-wide review of our Attendance Management and Wellbeing Strategy and the roll-out of the resultant Strategy during 2011-12;
- A focus on the Top 100 Absence Cases across the organisation;
- The roll-out of a programme of Wellbeing workshops which trains line managers to identify and deal with stress cases; and
- The use of Mediation to support the informal resolution of disputes.
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 the later. The CPS also seeks to pay all expenses to prosecution witnesses within five working days of receipt of a correctly completed claim form.
In 2010-11 the CPS settled 84.5% of undisputed invoices within 30 days of receipt and 80.2% of witness claims within 5 days. The CPS paid £257 in interest due under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. The department is reviewing systems and processes to identify further scope for improvement and will extend the use of purchase to pay during 2011-12.
Pension liabilities
Details on the treatment of pension liabilities, including a link to the statements of the relevant pension schemes are contained in Note 1: Accounting Policies and in the Remuneration Report that forms part of these accounts.
Events after the reporting period
There have been no events after the reporting period that would have a material impact on the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2011.
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.
The Annual Report and Accounts covering the Department's work for the preceding year is published each year. This includes information on the Department's performance against key performance indicators. Each year the Annual Report and Accounts are audited, published and laid before Parliament as a House of Commons paper.
They may be accessed at www.cps.gov.uk
Auditors
This year's Accounts have been audited by the National Audit Office on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General. No further audit services were received aside from that of statutory audit by the NAO.
The cost of audit work was £93,000 for the audit of the CPS 2010-11 Resource Accounts. Auditors' remuneration is a notional cost (see Note 8).
As far as the Accounting Officer is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the National Audit Office is unaware, and the Accounting Officer has taken all the steps that he ought to have taken to make himself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the CPS's auditors are aware of that information.
Keir Starmer QC
Accounting Officer
5 July 2011
Statement of Accounting Officer's Responsibilities
Under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000, HM Treasury has directed the Crown Prosecution Service to prepare for each financial year resource accounts detailing the resources acquired, held or disposed of during the year and the use of resources by the Department during the year. The accounts are prepared on an accruals basis and must give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Crown Prosecution Service and of its net resource outturn, resources applied to objectives, changes in taxpayers' equity and cash flows for the financial year.
In preparing the accounts, the Accounting Officer is required to comply with the requirements of the Government Financial Reporting Manual and in particular to:
- Observe the Accounts Direction issued by HM Treasury, including the relevant accounting and disclosure requirements, and apply suitable accounting policies on a consistent basis;
- Make judgements and estimates on a reasonable basis;
- State whether applicable accounting standards as set out in the Government Financial Reporting Manual have been followed, and disclose and explain any material departures in the accounts; and
- Prepare the accounts on a going concern basis.
HM Treasury has appointed the Director of Public Prosecutions as Accounting Officer of the Department, and the Director of Public Prosecutions has appointed the Chief Executive as an Additional Accounting Officer, with responsibility for preparing the Department's accounts and for transmitting them to the Comptroller and Auditor General. The responsibilities of an Accounting Officer, including responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the public finances for which the Accounting Officer is answerable, for keeping proper records and for safeguarding the Department's assets, are set out in Managing Public Money published by HM Treasury. Under the terms of the Accounting Officer's Memorandum, the relationship between the Department's principal and additional Accounting Officers, together with their respective responsibilities, is set out in writing.
Statement on internal control
Scope of responsibility
As Accounting Officer, I have responsibility for maintaining a sound system of internal control that supports the achievement of the CPS's policies, aims and objectives, whilst safeguarding the public funds and departmental assets for which I am personally responsible, in accordance with the responsibilities assigned to me in Managing Public Money. I am supported in managing the CPS and its key risks by the Chief Executive Officer who, as an additional Accounting Officer, is responsible for running the business on a day-to-day basis, for human resources, finance, business information systems, operations and criminal justice policy, allowing me to concentrate on prosecution, associated legal issues and legal policy.
The CPS is an independent part of the criminal justice system under the ministerial superintendence of the Attorney General. I meet regularly with the Attorney General to assess progress and performance and to discuss the issues and the risks associated with key criminal justice matters.
The purpose of the system of internal control
The system of internal control is designed to manage risk to a reasonable level rather than to eliminate all risk of failure to achieve policies, aims and objectives; therefore it can only provide reasonable and not absolute assurance of effectiveness.
It is designed to identify and prioritise the risks to the achievement of departmental policies, aims and objectives, to evaluate the likelihood of those risks being realised, the impact should they be realised, and to manage them efficiently, effectively and economically.
The system of internal control has been in place in the CPS for the year ended 31 March 2011 and up to the date of approval of the annual report and accounts, and accords with Treasury guidance.
Capacity to handle risk
I have put in place clear governance arrangements to make sure that the CEO and I, with the support of the CPS Board, are able to lead and direct the Service and manage risk effectively. All the CPS's senior leaders have a role to play in these arrangements.
The CPS Board is responsible for ensuring that there are appropriate risk management arrangements, that corporate risks are managed properly and there is a Board level risk management champion. The CPS approach is to encourage a culture in which staff at all levels are aware of the need to identify and manage a broad range of risks.
The Directors Group has oversight of risk management capability and of ensuring that the appropriate processes, training and information are disseminated throughout the department, that key corporate risks are managed and that risks are reviewed and updated regularly. Senior managers are personally responsible for maintaining effective risk management arrangements and ensuring that an effective system of internal control operates at all levels within their command.
Operational units, projects and programmes are required to maintain risk registers that list and evaluate the risks identified, and provide a framework for monitoring mitigation actions. Managers and staff have a responsibility to identify, evaluate, manage or report risks. A full range of risk guidance and support is available on the CPS internal 'Infonet' and is accessible to all staff.
The department continues to embed effective risk management and develop awareness through work to better integrate risk management into broader management training.
The risk and control framework
The CPS has an established Risk Management Strategy agreed by the Board that sets out clear accountabilities and a structured process for identifying, assessing, communicating, escalating and managing risks.
All risk management is aligned to the corporate aims, objectives, priorities and commitments. Formal Risk Management is applied to strategic corporate risks, Group and Area operational and business risks and to key business change programmes. All proposals for business change incorporate a detailed assessment of risks and mitigating factors. Regular risk management reports are produced at all levels throughout the CPS.
The Board has ownership of the CPS's corporate level risks, which are reviewed regularly and were assessed throughout the year by the Directors Group to ensure that they remain current and appropriate and consequently the Corporate Risk Register was updated throughout 2010-11 to reflect changing circumstances. Individual risks are consistently evaluated on the basis of probability and impact. The Board agrees the risk appetite for each risk. All corporate risk owners are Board or Directors Group Members.
The department is improving the cohesiveness of the mechanisms for obtaining assurance and managing risks by developing linkages between the risk register, assurance mapping and the performance scorecards.
The Board maintains a clear focus on the performance of the department and receives quarterly performance, business change and risk highlight reports, and separate reports of any escalated risks.
Governance for Security and Information Management has been in place, through the Security Information Management Group (SIMG), chaired by the Senior Information Risk Officer (SIRO), from March 2010. The SIRO, Chief Information Officer and Departmental Security Officer support the Board in respect of information handling and assurance risks. SIMG have developed and approved Security, Information Management and Information Assurance strategies and policies. All the CPS's staff have been provided with 'Protecting Information' training.
2010 Spending Review
The outcome of the Spending Review announced in October 2010 means that the CPS faces a real terms budget reduction of 25%. The department has responded rapidly to the challenge. To reduce the management costs of the organisation, release more resources to the front line and to build resilience and flexibility, on 1 April 2011 the CPS was reorganised into 13 Areas based on the established geographic Groups. In addition the department will continue to reduce the size and cost of headquarters and devolve more responsibility for service delivery to the Areas.
All key business processes are comprehensively documented and form an integral part of the CPS national Case Management System, which is designed to provide extensive management information. The HR Directorate ensures that there are appropriate policies in place to enable effective management of the CPS's staff and to ensure that suitably skilled and experienced staff are responsible for business processes. A new People Strategy is under development for implementation in 2011-12 to ensure that the department is properly equipped to meet the challenges over the next four years.
To help ensure that the CPS continues to meet its obligations and deliver a high quality service, twelve Core Quality Standards (CQS) were introduced during the year. A sophisticated system has been developed to monitor the performance of each Area against the standards. The CQS define a good quality prosecution in all its different aspects including:
- Advice to Investigators;
- Case Preparation;
- Presentation of cases in Court;
- Appeals; and
- Engagement with the Community.
The CQS monitoring (CQSM) system requires the examination of a minimum of six files each month by each unit head across the CPS and comprises a series of 34 monitoring questions addressing issues of quality to be answered on each file. Additionally there is a biannual peer review of a further six files in every unit. The data is recorded and then compared with case outcomes, or validation measures, recorded by both the CPS and courts. This provides a clear indication of the standards being achieved and whether performance is improving or declining. All staff link their yearly objectives to the Core Quality Standards and this forms a fundamental part of performance appraisals.
In the case of Violence Against Women (VAW), a particular priority of the CPS, Areas were supported in taking on the management of their local performance through the introduction of a VAW Assurance scheme from January 2011. Areas are now required to report to the Chief Operating Officer on the quality of VAW prosecutions, including a qualitative assessment of 25% of rape prosecutions on a six-monthly basis.
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) holds meetings every quarter with the Group Chairs to assess their Areas' performance. Before these meetings the CEO and I examine all the Groups' and Areas' performance data with the COO and his team.
Significant internal control issues
Follow-up activity is progressing in response to the two Areas, London and Gwent, rated as below the minimum standard by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) in 2009-10. In the intervening period HMCPSI have noted considerable improvement in both Areas.
Additional follow-up activity is taking place in South Wales, the Area rated as below the minimum standard in 2010-11. This follow-up activity will be conducted together with Gwent. Assessments in both Areas highlighted to the CPS the need to ensure that high standards of performance and behaviour are established and communicated to staff. They also highlighted the need for effective performance management regimes against which to monitor individual performance. Action plans to address issues have been prepared and are monitored by the COO, CEO and DPP. HMCPSI will also conduct follow-up activity.
A lawyer in the CPS in Gwent was dismissed and prosecuted following a Police investigation concerning charges of corruption. As a result, a review of all cases in which this lawyer had significant involvement was undertaken. Whilst no evidence of further corruption was found, one key issue that was discovered was the importance of keeping a record of all advice provided during cases. Action is underway for CCPs to assure themselves that their working practices establish this.
In March 2011 the HMCPSI assessed the performance of CPS Merseyside as falling below the expected standard, with the quality of casework handling and decision-making in the Area in need of significant improvement. During 2011-12 the COO, CEO and DPP will monitor the corrective action instigated by this assessment.
The audit on discharged committals identified failures in adopting and managing systems to ensure these cases are progressed expeditiously. Guidance on the use and management of systems to monitor discharged committals has been issued and compliance tested by the COO at Group performance reviews.
Review of effectiveness
As Accounting Officer, I have responsibility for reviewing the effectiveness of the system of internal control. In discharging this responsibility I have been informed by the work of the internal auditors and the executive managers within the department who have responsibility for the development and maintenance of the internal control framework, and comments made by the external auditors in their management letter and other reports.
In light of the performance issues identified in London and Gwent, governance arrangements have been improved, and the CPS Board has taken a much greater role in reviewing the performance of operational Groups.
In reviewing the effectiveness of the system of internal control I have also been advised by the Board and the Directors Group, and I am assured of plans to address weaknesses and ensure continuous improvement of the controls currently in place.
Assurance regarding the adequacy of the internal controls has been provided by the Audit Committee, which regularly considers the effectiveness of internal controls and the assurance framework. The Audit Committee also reviews progress on implementing Internal Audit, External Audit and HMCPSI recommendations.
The Internal Audit function operates to the 'Government Internal Audit Standards'. The Head of Internal Audit (HIA) provides an independent opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness of the department's system of internal control, and an opinion on significant control issues. The Audit Committee reviews and endorses the annual report from the HIA and reports to the Board.
HMCPSI provide an independent review of business efficiency and effectiveness, which helps the department to focus improvements in risk management and internal controls on identified areas of weakness.
HQ Directors and Group Chairs complete Certificates of Assurance that provide a specific and personal assurance based on self-assessment of the reliability of their key business systems and activities throughout the year.
In addition I have received specific assurances from the Board Whistleblowing Champion on the adequacy of the whistleblowing policy and procedures, on the Information Assurance Maturity Model (IAMM), Major Supplier 3rd Party Assurance assessments and a satisfactory outcome from the NAO following an audit of Risk Management maturity within the CPS.
Keir Starmer QC
Accounting Officer
5 July 2011
