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The Scottish Executive: Draft Budget 2004-05 Summary

Chapter 2 Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

Objective 1: To improve the delivery of justice by timely, efficient and effective investigation and prosecution of crime.

• Target 1: To work with criminal justice system partners towards the agreement, by early 2004, of cross-cutting targets covering the progress of crime through the criminal justice system. ¹
• Target 2: To take action in 75% of crime reports within 6 weeks by 31 March 2005 and within 5 weeks by 31 March 2006.

Objective 2: To support stronger, safer communities by securing public confidence, including that of ethnic minorities, in the prosecution system.

• Target 3: To conduct a public survey to monitor trends in public confidence in the prosecution service, commencing in 2003-04, with improvement targets to be implemented for 2004-05.
• Target 4: To establish a new inspectorate which will conduct an independent review and report on the prosecution of racial crime by 31 December 2005 with recommendations to be implemented during the following Spending Review period.

Objective 3: To give priority to the prosecution of serious crime, including drugs trafficking and persistent offenders.

• Target 5: To implement recommendations of the COPFS Quality and Practice Review Unit review of High Court prosecution relating to investigation and preparation of High Court cases by 31 March 2005 and implement fully those relating to the management of High Court cases at court, which are relevant to the review by Lord Bonomy, in the next Spending Review period.
• Target 6: To serve indictments in 80% of sheriff and jury cases that involve bail within 9 months of first appearance on petition by 31 March 2005.
• Target 7: To serve all High Court indictments that involve bail within 10 months of first appearance on petition by 1 January 2005.

Objective 4: To provide services which meet the information needs of victims, witnesses and next of kin, in co-operation with other agencies.

• Target 8: To communicate court bail decisions within 24 hours to 90% of victims in cases in which the accused has appeared from custody.
• Target 9: To develop a customer service satisfaction survey for the Victim Information & Advice Service by 31 March 2004 and achieve 85% satisfaction levels amongst those surveyed by 31 March 2005.

Objective 5: To ensure that all deaths reported to the Procurator Fiscal are investigated appropriately and speedily.

• Target 10: In deaths which require further investigation, to conclude investigation and advise next of kin of outcome within 12 weeks in 60% of cases by 31 March 2006.

Objective 6: To provide thorough, timely, and independent investigation of complaints of criminal conduct by police officers.

• Target 11:

a) to complete investigation of complaints of criminal conduct by police officers and advise complainer of outcome within 10 weeks of report to Procurator Fiscal in 60% of cases and within 12 weeks in 90% of cases by 31 March 2006; and

b) to achieve a 100% approval level of the quality of investigation and decision making in a random selection of complaints against the police case examined annually by the Inspectorate by 31 March 2006.

Spending plans 2003-06

Table 2.01 Spending plans (level 3)

What the budget does

The budget funds the operations of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), which is a key part of Scotland's criminal justice system. It provides the sole public prosecuting authority in Scotland, investigates sudden deaths and, where appropriate, conducts public enquiries and investigates independently all complaints of criminal conduct by police officers.

Portfolio priorities

In 2004-05 we will focus our resources on reducing crime and the fear of crime, together with continuing the modernisation of the Service, by:

• improving the delivery of justice by ensuring timely, efficient and effective investigation and prosecution of crime;
• securing public confidence, including that of ethnic minorities, in the prosecution system - making the justice system more accessible and more responsive;
• working for a safer Scotland by giving priority to the prosecution of serious crime, including drug trafficking and persistent offenders - making Scotland's streets safer, and making people feel safer;
• providing services which meet the information needs of victims, witnesses - especially vulnerable witnesses - and next of kin, in co-operation with other agencies - treating the victims of crime with dignity;
• providing thorough, timely, and independent investigation of complaints of criminal conduct by police officers - thereby promoting accountable and responsive policing;
• ensuring that the newly established criminal confiscation and civil recovery units investigate and recover proceeds of drug trafficking and other serious crime;
• further improving the way racist crime is handled;
• working with others in the criminal justice system to improve the way in which cases are progressed through the system to provide support for and minimise the distress of victims and witnesses; and
• rolling out the Future Office System (FOS). This will allow more work to be carried out on screen, leading to improved efficiency and easier document storage and retrieval. This will free up resources to devote to the more serious and complex cases.

New resources

Since the publication of "Building a Better Scotland" in September 2002, additional resources of 0.43 million in 2004-05 and 0.65 million in 2005-06 have been made available to fund the development of improved information technology systems. These will support improvements in the operation of the High Court consequent upon the recommendation in the report by Lord Bonomy. The improved systems will be designed to allow COPFS to manage High Court cases better.

Closing the opportunity gap

Crime, both serious and petty, is concentrated disproportionately in communities that are disadvantaged. Both perpetrators of crime and victims of crime live for the most part in disadvantaged communities. The increase in resources going into the prosecution of crime will produce speedier and more effective prosecutions by providing more frontline lawyers and better IT systems with real-time links to criminal records. In conjunction with the efforts of other partners in the criminal justice system, this should reduce the impact of crime upon the communities and individuals whose lives are currently afflicted by it. This will help to support stronger, safer communities.

A second focus of COPFS resources will be the pursuit of persistent offenders. Because crime is disproportionately concentrated upon disadvantaged communities and a high volume of crime is by relatively few individuals, a faster clear up rate for persistent criminals will produce noticeable benefits for such communities. In addition, a high proportion of serious crime involves drugs offences. These are also concentrated in disadvantaged communities and their effects can blight the lives of many of the families who live there. COPFS has set up a Criminal Confiscation Unit and a Civil Recovery Unit, which is targeting the proceeds of illegal activities. Monies recouped can be targeted on community initiatives.

COPFS is mounting a special effort on race crime. This includes the establishment of an independent inspectorate, which will review the handling of race crime cases. Communities with a higher than average proportion of ethnic minority residents have lower average income levels than other communities. The effort to target and improve the handling of cases that involve race crime will therefore serve to bolster confidence in the justice system amongst ethnic minority groups and improve the opportunities and life chances of the members of ethnic minority communities.

Sustainable development

The department makes a contribution to sustainable development by prosecuting environmental crime. It takes this responsibility very seriously. Prosecutors will take criminal proceedings where the evidence available justifies it and where prosecution is in the public interest. We are committed to improving our approach to the prosecution of these cases, which are reported principally by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and local authority environmental health departments. With input from SEPA, staff in our Policy Group currently provide detailed guidance on environmental crime to our prosecutors throughout the country to assist them in dealing with these cases. We are looking at increased training and support for prosecutors in dealing with environmental and wildlife crime.

Sentencing is, of course, for the courts. We work with SEPA and reporting agencies generally to ensure that reports include all relevant information (including information about the impact of the offence) so that the prosecutor, at the initial marking stage, and the judiciary, at the sentencing stage, are aware of all necessary information to make an informed decision.

¹ This target has been refined from the target detailed in "Building a Better Scotland" , to reflect recent developments in the criminal justice environment.

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