Research at the Crown Prosecution Service

At minimum, you will need to provide evidence that the research:

• Is relevant to the organisational priorities of the CPS’s 2030  strategy
• Has a realistic and proportionate timetable for data collection. If the research requires participation of CPS staff, sufficient time should be allocated to ensure that this can be fitted around staff’s day-to day roles. The demand on CPS staff time should be considered and minimised as much as possible when methods are chosen and applications are made
• Considers the time needed to evaluate your proposal. The proposal should be submitted as early as possible (the RSG meets approximately every six weeks to evaluate proposals). To ensure we have enough time to evaluate all requests thoroughly, applications should be submitted at least three weeks prior to the RSG meeting for consideration. Please contact [email protected] for dates of RSG meetings
• Will receive appropriate ethical scrutiny/approval from an Ethics Committee. In cases where CPS approval is required first, the ethical approval documents are expected to be provided retrospectively
• Has a design and methods which are appropriate to the aim (i.e. why is the proposed method the best to address the aim?)
• Will be conducted by appropriately skilled staff. The individual/team responsible for collecting and analysing the data should be qualified to do so to ensure the success of the project (i.e. if interviews are required the interviewers should have formal training)
• Has a formal written Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) to ensure that any data protection risks have been identified and that steps are being taken to minimise such risks
• Includes a dissemination plan, ideally aligning with the GSR regulations and setting out how you will engage with the CPS on dissemination.

Proposals which do not provide evidence of the above requirements will not be considered by the Group.

Please note, if you are requesting access to CPS data (for example, metrics, casefiles, participant contact information etc.), a data sharing agreement must be developed following approval of your research request. The DSA must first be signed by both parties before data sharing can commence.

If you are considering making a research proposal, please reach out to the Research Team [email protected] at an early stage to help ensure that your requests are dealt with in a timely manner. We are happy to talk through any plans and provide further support to you in making your application.

Once we have received all relevant documentation, your research request will be evaluated and considered by the RSG. The RSG secretariat will aim to notify you of the RSG’s decision to either support or not support your research request within five working days of the RSG meeting.

• If the RSG decides to support your research, the RSG secretariat will work with you and other relevant CPS teams to facilitate your research. You must have received a final ‘CPS decision to support’ email from the Research Team before engaging CPS staff or service users for your research.
• If the RSG decides to reject your research request, the RSG secretariat will inform you of the committee’s reasoning for this. If you feel that you can address this, you may then make one resubmission outlining how you have addressed the reason for your initial application’s rejection.

If any part of your planned research changes after the RSG decides to support your application, the amendments must be raised as soon as possible with the Research Team at [email protected].

This would include changes such as a change of research methods, the number of participants required, or changes to the timelines. The RSG must re-consider any amendments before you attempt to implement them.