Crown Prosecution Service (Hansard, 28 June 1999)

The Attorney-General

Shortly after coming into office, I set up a review of the Crown Prosecution Service. Its terms of reference, 12 June 1997,Official Report, columns 533–34, went to the fundamentals of the Service.

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An examination of the organisation and structure of the CPS was required along with consideration of what changes might be necessary to provide for more effective and efficient prosecution of crime.

The terms of reference reflected the concerns expressed in the Labour Party paper, "The Case for the Prosecution". That paper was prepared while in opposition after considering the disquiet expressed by a wide range of individuals about the criminal justice system.

As is well known by now, Sir kin Glidewell conducted the review, assisted by Sir Geoffrey Dear and Robert McFarland.

I published Sir lain' s Report on 1 June 1998,Official Report, columns 42–52. The report was widely and warmly received. It acknowledged the achievements of the CPS including, most importantly, the establishment of an independent, national, prosecution service. However, it also confirmed many of the concerns that had been expressed about the CPS. It made 75 recommendations.

I was able to accept immediately the broad thrust of the Report which sets an agenda for re-ordering the priorities of the CPS to focus on the core business of prosecuting. A key recommendation concerned the appointment of a Chief Executive. That was a specific recommendation I was able to accept immediately: Mark Addison was appointed and took up the post within a matter of days. David Calvert-Smith QC was appointed DPP in November 1998. The Director and Chief Executive have together given a strong lead, driving forward the reform of the CPS.

While some of the recommendations affect the internal operation of the CPS, other recommendations are relevant to a number of criminal justice agencies, including the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Home Office and the police. These inter-agency recommendations have been taken forward by the relevant agencies working together in co-operation.

On 30 November 1998 I was able to announce an interim Government response to the Glidewell Report, 30 November 1998,Official Report, columns 67–70. That interim response identified what had by then been achieved and what remained under consideration.

Today, I am able to provide the final Government response to Sir lain Glidewell's Report. I have placed in the Library of the House a chart which identifies whether the Government accepts or otherwise each individual recommendation. Where necessary, the chart shows how recommendations are planned to be taken forward with a timetable for action. Sixty-four recommendations are shown as accepted, accepted in part or in principle, or implemented. Only two of the recommendations are rejected; these are identified below. The remaining few recommendations are shown as noted or considered. I shall focus on some of the key aspects.

On 19 April 1999 I announced a new national framework for Criminal Justice Units building on a key recommendation in the Glidewell Report, 19 April 1999, Official Report, columns 397–98. The Criminal Justice Units will provide joint police/CPS administration, having sole conduct of fast-track cases and responsibility for the prosecution of cases in the magistrates' courts. Chief Crown Prosecutors working together with Chief 12W Constables must produce by the end of November this year joint outline plans for implementing the Criminal Justice Units. Progress will be monitored.

I can now announce that CPS Trial Units will also be established, again building on a key recommendation in the Glidewell report. The Trial Units will be responsible for all prosecutions in the Crown Court. They will provide a means by which CPS lawyers can focus on the most serious cases and a structural mechanism through which CPS Higher Court Advocates will be able to exercise their rights of audience to the benefit of the justice system.

The creation of Criminal Justice Units and Trial Units will go a long way to defining more clearly the relationship between the key agencies of the police, CPS and courts, as the Glidewell Report recommended. One crucial area of local co-operation concerns the listing of cases at court. The Glidewell Report made recommendations regarding listing practices at both Magistrates' Courts and Crown Court centres. These recommendations have been accepted. Improved case preparation by the CPS and inter-agency moves towards better case management should lead to more effective listing practices which will ensure that cases are prepared and listed for trial more quickly. Work is underway on the preparation of national protocols to guide local arrangements in this respect.

Over a period, as a result of fast-tracking and effective listing, the CPS will be able to deploy more lawyers on the more serious cases and thereby achieve the shift in the centre of gravity recommended by the Glidewell Report.

After careful consideration, two of the Glidewell Report recommendations have been rejected, though the concerns that prompted the recommendations are being addressed in other ways.

First, the Glidewell Report recommended that the CPS install a new costing system. The CPS commissioned an independent consultant to consider this complex area in close detail. As a result, it has been decided that the existing activity based costing system should be retained but improved to reflect the objectives identified by the Glidewell Report.

Secondly, the Glidewell Report recommended that as soon as practicable the CPS should take over from the police responsibility for witness warning. The possibility of transferring this responsibility has been considered carefully but is not thought to be a practical option, or a proper reflection of the respective constitutional priorities of the CPS and the police. Though the recommendation is rejected, the new framework for joint CPS/police administration will enable the police and CPS to work together to provide a better service to victims and witnesses by building on established arrangements.

Related to this second recommendation is the Glidewell recommendation that responsibility for giving information and explanations to complainants/victims should transfer from the police to the CPS as soon as resources permit. The Government are committed to improving the service that the criminal justice system as a whole provides to victims and the Glidewell recommendation is accepted in principle. The issues raised with implementing this recommendation will be taken forward on a national basis as part of on-going work on the treatment of victims and witnesses. This will involve a scoping/options study, 13W and a detailed analysis of the resource implications. In the meantime, the CPS and criminal justice agencies will consider what immediate action can be taken to improve the current level of service which victims receive.

The reforms brought about by the Glidewell Report must be seen alongside the re-structuring of CPS Areas. When this Government came into office, I announced our intention that the CPS national structure should move from the existing 13 geographical Areas to 42 geographical Areas coterminous with police areas (save for London in which the Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London Constabulary should be counted as one CPS Area). This initiative is aimed at enhancing local effectiveness, promoting local inter-agency co-operation and local accountability. It is an initiative which the Glidewell Report endorsed believing it to provide the basis for a genuinely new start for the CPS.

In April, the 42 CPS Area structure was implemented. The selection process for the new Chief Crown Prosecutors (CCPs) took into account Sir lain Glidewell's vision of their role and responsibility as individuals of stature whose competence and integrity would be crucial to the success of the move to a decentralised, locally accountable, national service. The Glidewell Report also recommended that Area Business Managers (ABMs) be appointed to take responsibility for Area management and administration, thereby enabling the CCPs to focus on the business of prosecuting. The CCPs and ABMs are now in post helping to implement locally the reform of the CPS.

The move to 42 CPS Areas is an important part of what I intend to be a significant cultural change for the CPS, one which will greatly enhance the public service provided by its staff. There are encouraging signs that the cultural change is well underway with the CPS becoming a more flexible and locally accountable organisation, responsive to local needs and circumstances.

In turn, this means a changing role and a changing culture for CPS national headquarters. It will provide the national framework for prosecuting, manage the resources available to the Service as a whole and facilitate the joined-up approach to improving the criminal justice system to which the Government are committed. Its principal role will be to provide support to the Areas, enabling them to deliver a prosecution service locally. The signs are that this new emphasis is already being noticed and welcomed by the Areas. As a public service responsible for spending £0.3 billion of public funds each year and accountable to Parliament there must be accounting and monitoring systems. The DPP and Chief Executive are continuing to work together to ensure that the central demands made of Areas are reviewed and that bureaucracy is minimised.

The Glidewell Report acknowledged that there would continue to be a need for a structure separate to the local Areas responsible for handling the most serious and sensitive of cases which require resources not normally available in CPS Areas. The Report recommended two separate but parallel management structures to handle this category of casework. First, a central pool and secondly a national network of CPS staff with a division of the casework between the two and each reporting into CPS headquarters. These recommendations have been accepted in principle but with the CPS taking forward a proposal that there should be a single management structure for 14W this category of casework embracing both the central pool and the national network of CPS staff reporting into CPS headquarters. This will provide a cohesive framework for prosecuting this category of cases with a clear line of responsibility and answerability.

The move to 42 CPS Areas coterminous with police force areas is a significant opportunity for the CPS and other criminal justice agencies to work together locally to deliver the Government's objectives for the criminal justice system as a whole, namely, to reduce crime and to deliver justice fairly and effectively. The structure of local criminal justice liaison bodies is being revised, as the Glidewell Report recommended, to take account of the 42 Area structure. A joint measure and targets on the timeliness in dealing with cases through the prosecution process are being established to complement existing targets for improving the time taken to prosecute persistent young offenders. Joint targets reinforce the message that agencies must work together to make the whole system more effective, not just to improve individual parts sometimes to the detriment of other agencies.

Accepting another of the recommendations, work is progressing to identify common casework statistics so that meaningful comparisons can be made agency-by-agency, facilitating a better understanding of how the system is working.

I announced in November that the Glidewell Report recommendations concerning the CPS Inspectorate were accepted with some modifications. I can now announce that the Government propose to put the Inspectorate on an independent statutory basis as soon as the legislative timetable permits. With this in mind, a new Chief Inspector, Stephen Wooler, took up his post in March of this year. He is driving forward the work necessary to the reform of the Inspectorate which will enhance its independence, expand its role and responsibilities and thereby provide the scrutiny of the Service which will support public confidence in the CPS.

Two other key initiatives have inter-acted with the Glidewell report. First the Narey reforms for reducing delay in the criminal justice system, and, secondly, the publication of the criminal justice system's Strategic Plan and Business Plan published as a response to the two strategic objectives set by the Government. Additionally, the Glidewell reforms of the CPS must take into account the Government's response to the recommendations contained in Sir William Macpherson's Report of his inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. This is not the moment to focus on each of these matters. Suffice it to say that they, along with the Glidewell reforms and the move to 42 CPS Areas, represent a key theme of this administration, namely the modernisation of public service by developing a cohesive and coherent approach to policy with agencies and Departments working together for the benefit of the community as a whole. This approach will, I believe, deliver a modern criminal justice system worthy of that title.

The cultural, structural and organisational changes that are happening to the CPS must be carefully managed. A lesson of the past is that a rush to change is a recipe for error. Whilst I intend proper progress will be made I also 15W intend the changes to be managed with care, ensuring that we get it right for society as a whole while being sensitive to CPS staff.

I am pleased to take this opportunity of commending all those who have worked together so hard to take forward the recommendations. I include, of course, not only members of the CPS but those of other agencies and Government Departments within the criminal justice system. The good-will and determination to work together to make for a better system has enabled brisk progress to be made on what is a substantial initiative within the criminal justice system.

As superintending Minister for the CPS I pay particular tribute to all members of CPS staff who have faced a period of uncertainty with professional resolve. The reforms will, I believe, enhance their individual roles, increase their job satisfaction, and lead to improved morale.

I believe that the Glidewell reforms have laid a sure foundation for a better Crown Prosecution Service and a better criminal justice system working for the benefit of the community. The CPS has embarked on its new start; by taking forward Sir Iain Glidewell's recommendations it is well on the road to fulfilling what Sir Iain described as its potential to become a lively, successful and esteemed part of the criminal justice system.