CPS West Yorkshire Shortlisted for Prestigious Award

25/10/2007

The outstanding achievements of the Crown Prosecution Service in West Yorkshire have been recognised by the judges of the most prestigious awards in the legal calendar.

CPS West Yorkshire's Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel has been short-listed for the Law Society's inaugural Excellence Awards in the category of Equality and Diversity.

BBC Broadcaster Jeremy Vine will present the awards at a prestigious ceremony which will take place on 25 October at the Honourable Artillery Company in London. The Awards will reward outstanding achievement in the in the legal profession, in the key areas of practice standards, innovation in business, quality of life, equality and diversity and social responsibility.

Neil Franklin, CPS West Yorkshires Chief Crown Prosecutor said, "I am delighted that CPS West Yorkshires Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel has been recognised for its outstanding contribution to equality and diversity. The work of the Panel is widely acknowledged, but being short listed for such a prestigious award provides us with enormous satisfaction. It is rare for the public sector to succeed when competing for recognition and there can be no greater recognition for our success than being short listed for this Award."

The prosecution of race hate crime cases has improved in the Area since the Panel has been in operation. The attrition rate was 21.60% during quarter 1 2005/6 and this fell to 13.89% during quarter 1 2007/8. The number of these cases taken by the CPS has also increased from 490 in 2004-5, 577 in 2005-6 to 625 in 2006-7, despite no increase in reported relevant crime, demonstrating the impact of the panel in increasing public, particularly BME, confidence.
The panel acts as a conduit for community views, presenting feedback to the CPS in a constructive and unemotional manner. This assists the Area in developing local policies and procedures which reflect community views. For instance, the Areas tendency to prosecute evidentially weak cases for reasons of perceived political expediency was criticised by the Panel, acted upon by the Area contributing to increased public confidence by the achievement of better results.

Andrew Holroyd, Law Society Vice President said, "I have been extremely pleased with the high standard and number of entries received for the first year of the excellence awards. We received 150 entries from across England and Wales and CPS West Yorkshire have been very successful in beating off the competition to reach this stage. We can all benefit by recognising and learning from the achievements of the leaders and innovators in our profession. The best entrants will gain the accolade of winning what I am confident will soon become the most prestigious awards in the legal calendar."

Ends

Notes to Editors:

The awards have been designed to recognise best practice across the solicitors profession and to celebrate excellence and outstanding achievement in areas that are central to the profession today. They will highlight innovative business and quality of life practices, successful approaches to practice management, contributions through social responsibility and equality and diversity initiatives and personal contributions to the profession.

Entries will be judged by Andrew Holroyd, President of the Law Society, Paul Marsh, Vice President of the Law Society and Bob Heslett, Deputy Vice President of the Law Society, Frances Gibb, Legal Editor of The Times and Neil Rose, Deputy Editor of the Law Society Gazette.

For more information call Fiona Tatton on 07980 725 964, or the Law Society Press Office on 020 7320 5902, or CPS West Yorkshires Press Officer, Cheryl Ford on 0113 2902839.