CPS Response to HMCPSI Area Assurance Inspection of CPS South East

CPS South East has engaged staff, set clear priorities with a strong vision and has used a peer review approach to improve performance in its Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team, according to a report published today (Tuesday 30 January 2018) by Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI).

The report also praises how the area has raised awareness of hate crime, its culture of recognising the work of its staff, its improvement in financial management and the hate crime conviction rate, which is amongst the best in the country.

The inspectorate highlighted that more can be done to improve casework quality and the standard of files received from the police. It also highlighted aspects of victim and witness care that need to be improved, including letters sent when cases are stopped or charges are changed.

CPS South East acknowledges the issues highlighted in the report and work is already underway to address these points. A package of measures to improve the way disclosure is handled was published on Friday 26 January 2018. This follows a number of measures already put in place nationally to improve disclosure.

Jaswant Narwal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS South East, said: “We welcome the Inspectorate report and are pleased with the positive findings, particularly in relation to our staff and our priority of tackling hate crime.

“We also recognise the importance of further improving the quality of our casework and the service we provide to our victims and witnesses and we are confident that our action plan going forward will enable us to deliver improvements on these important aspects of our work over in the coming months.”

The formal CPS response can be found here on the CPS website.