Crown Prosecution Service: Deaths in Custody (Hansard, 16 July 2003)

§ The Attorney-General (Lord Goldsmith)

The report of my review has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and sent to those who contributed their views to the review or who were invited to do so. A copy has also been placed on the website of the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, which can be found atwww.lslo.gov.uk.

The fundamental objective of my review has been to improve public confidence in the decisions of the CPS and the way the Crown Prosecution Service takes decisions and carries out its statutory role in cases arising from a death in custody. Some important themes have emerged from this review, and the Director of Public Prosecutions and I have agreed that changes to CPS practice are needed in a number of respects.

The core themes that emerged from the review and in relation to which changes are being implemented clustered around the following: the role of the CPS during the criminal investigation; how the Crown Prosecution Service can best deliver high-quality, efficient decision-making that commands public confidence; and how the CPS can communicate more effectively with the families of people who die in custody where there is a criminal investigation into the circumstances in which that person died.

The review sets out a package of measures to improve the practice of the Crown Prosecution Service in its handling of deaths in custody. The following measures are being or have been implemented:

1. The CPS definition of deaths in custody, which will identifiy those cases that will be subject to the special internal procedures set out in this report, will be brought into line with that of the Home Office where police-related deaths are concerned. The definition so far as it relates to deaths in prison custody will remain the same.
2. While any deaths in custody that are referred to the CPS for advice or prosecution will continue to be dealt with by the casework directorate (as recommended in the Butler review), the pool of Crown Prosecution Service lawyers taking decisions in death in custody cases will be widened to speed up the decision-making process and to enable the most senior lawyers in the service, including the Director personally, to advise on and to take decisions in individual cases. In order to increase the available lawyers involved, steps are or will be taken to enable suitably qualified lawyers below senior civil servant level in the casework directorate to take decisions; and to alter the current arrangements for decision-making to allow greater input by senior lawyers into the most critical casework decisions that the service faces. I announced this change in the House of Lords on 27 February 2003 at col. WA 47.
3. The pool of counsel instructed to advise will be widened.
4. The independent police complaints commission will become fully operational in 2004. As it will have the role and capacity to undertake some investigations in-house, including death in custody cases, the Crown Prosecution Service is discussing with the IPCC how it proposes to carry out its functions in these cases and how the relationship with the Crown Prosecution Service will operate, particularly in relation to early advice.
5. A wide-ranging training programme for all those who take decisions in death in custody cases has been commenced.
6. A new package of measures to increase the transparency of the decision-making process and to involve families more will be implemented. This will mean earlier meetings between the case lawyer and the family and better arrangements for keeping the family informed of progress and increasing their opportunity to have input during the decision making process.
7. More proactive case management systems: there is already a scheme to facilitate proactive case tracking and management to case plans agreed at the outset.
8. The Director of Public Prosecutions is taking a new enhanced role in overseeing all cases arising from a death in custody.
9. The casework directorate, supported by the equality and diversity unit of the CPS, will take steps to engage with different communities, riot only through special interest and campaign groups, but through the legal community, the media and members of the public more widely.
10. Statistical information will be compiled that will enable the CPS to demonstrate its performance, identify any patterns and identify any scope for improvement.
11. As best practice, reviewing lawyers in death in custody cases will continue to attend relevant parts of any inquest in the case to view crucial evidence being given.
12. The CPS will publish a booklet to explain to families where the Crown Prosecution Service fits into the process and what they can expect from the CPS.

The overall objective of all the reforms is to put in place changes that will contribute to and support high-quality and fair decision-making, efficient decision-making and arrangements for communicating with families that will tend to promote confidence in the decisions taken and in the process itself.

I am grateful to all those who contributed their time and expertise by responding to the consultation paper I issued last year, or attending the public seminar or by letting me know their views in other ways.