Foreword from the Director of Public Prosecutions
I am pleased to introduce this year’s business plan, my first as Director of Public Prosecutions and the last under the current strategy, CPS 2025. The plan for this year represents a key moment as we look to build upon the excellent work of recent years, as well as marking the beginning of a new direction for the organisation.
Since joining last November, it has been evident to me that our organisation has a steadfast determination to deliver justice through independent and fair prosecutions. This shared sense of purpose unites the CPS and gives me great confidence in our ability to make the vital service we provide even better. This will be essential if we are to meet the complex challenges facing the CPS and the wider criminal justice system; challenges that are further complicated by persistently high caseloads, increasing demand, and financial pressures. Nevertheless, we are determined to deliver justice for victims and society – and whatever role we have in the CPS, all of us are committed to achieving that aim.
Despite considerable efforts by the CPS and our partners, we know that victims, witnesses, and the public are still waiting too long to see justice. I want us to do everything we can to reduce delays, and to support victims to stay the course – improving their experience so that they can see cases through to conclusion. One way in which we can achieve this aim is to strengthen our internal advocacy resource as well as helping the external Bar to grow and sustain its numbers. By these means we can reduce the number of court adjournments and speed up the delivery of justice.
At the same time, everyone in the CPS is continuing to work exceptionally hard to navigate intense pressures and complex challenges. To help ease those pressures, I want to make sure that we are working as effectively as possible, thinking creatively about how we can reduce the daily obstacles CPS staff face, and supporting our people to be at their best.
We also need to play a leading role within the wider system, driving improvements with criminal justice colleagues. In particular, we will be developing digital jury bundles to support a modern court system and strengthening our collaboration with police to work more effectively at both a local and a national level. The important work we’ve done jointly to improve the way we handle rape and serious sexual offences shows how effective we can be when we deliver change together. Ultimately, we owe this to the communities we serve – and to the victims who depend upon us to deliver justice for them.
This plan contains key areas of work we will prioritise this year in order to become more effective and more efficient. If we can make sure we deliver in a way that truly works for us, then we will ultimately provide a better service for the victims and communities we serve.
Stephen Parkinson
Director of Public Prosecutions