§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Attorney-General what steps he has taken to recruit staff for the local offices of the Crown Prosecution Service.
§ The Attorney-GeneralUntil the Prosecution of Offences Bill has received Royal Assent it is not possible to recruit staff for local offices of the Crown Prosecution Service. I have, therefore, taken no steps to do so. Ther are, however, six counties in England and Wales (Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Leicestershire, North Yorkshire and Staffordshire) which currently do not have prosecuting solicitors' departments of their own. The Director of Public Prosecutions intends to set up local offices of his Department in these areas during 1985 and the Civil Service Commission is currently running an open competition for the head of office post in the first of these (the Hertfordshire district). These offices can be expected to form the basis for the district office of the Crown Prosecution Service when it comes into existence.