The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

CROWN OFFICE AND PROCURATOR FISCAL SERVICE

To provide an independent, modern prosecution service, which is committed to professional excellence, pursues cases fairly and consistently in the public interest and is responsive to the public's needs.

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

Spending Plans 2002-08

Table 2.01 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3)

Note:
The level 3 allocations are based on forecast workload units for solemn, summary, investigation of deaths, complaints against police and non-court business. The sums detailed for capital spend and victim information and advice reflect planned expenditure.

Table 2.02 More detailed categories of spending (Level 3 real terms)at 2005-06 prices

What the budget does

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service ( COPFS) provides Scotland's independent public prosecution and deaths investigation service. The Departmental Minister is the Lord Advocate, whose position as head of the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths is enshrined in the Scotland Act.

The Department is the sole public prosecution authority in Scotland. It is responsible for making decisions about and bringing prosecutions for all criminal offences. The Department also has the duty to investigate all sudden, suspicious or unexplained deaths and is responsible for deciding whether criminal proceedings or a Fatal Accident Inquiry should be held and for conducting such proceedings and inquiries. Responsibility for investigating complaints against the police, involving allegations of criminal conduct, rests with the Area Procurators Fiscal. Prosecution of police officers is undertaken on the instruction of Crown Counsel. The Department's Financial Crime Unit and Civil Recovery Unit investigate and recover proceeds of drugs trafficking and other serious crime. The Department also provides a dedicated Victim Information and Advice Service across Scotland.

The Department works closely with its criminal justice partners to help make Scotland a safer place and plays a pivotal role within the criminal justice system in maintaining the security and confidence of all communities of Scotland in the prosecution system - making the justice system more accessible and more responsive. The core values of the Department are impartiality, integrity, sensitivity, respect and professionalism.

In everything that we do, we are committed to ensuring that we work to grow the economy, to promote equality and close the opportunity gap and to ensure that our activities are sustainable.

Statement of priorities

In 2006-07 and 2007-08 we will focus our resources on:

• serious crime and complex cases whilst ensuring the effective prosecution of summary business and responding to local communities;

• continued investment in the modernisation of the prosecution service to improve productivity and to work with our criminal justice partners to deliver reform;

• additional capital expenditure on information communication technology (£1.1m in 2006-07 and £1.5m in 2007-08) and expenditure on a major refurbishment (£3m in 2006-07) of the Department's Glasgow office;

• additional resources (£0.6m in 2006-07 and 2007-08) for our Civil Recovery Unit to support proceedings through the civil courts to recover assets financed by the proceeds of crime;

• continued improvement of services to victims and witnesses, and in particular, implementation of the second and third tranches of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004;

• additional investment (£0.5m in 2006-07 and 2007-08) in forensic pathology to support and secure the long-term delivery of this service;

• funding (£0.1m in 2006-07) for the training of prosecutors in dealing with environmental and wildlife crime; and

• implementing the recommendations of the COPFS Inspectorate's Review of the prosecution of racial crime.

Growing the Economy

The Department makes a contribution to Growing the Economy through the Justice (including Youth Crime and Prosecution) objectives and commitments, as set out in the Partnership Agreement.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, together with its justice partners, has a key role in ensuring that the Justice Partnership Agreement (below) is achieved:

'……… a Safer Scotland, reducing crime, particularly violent and drugs related crime, and reducing re-offending. Alongside measures to improve education and opportunity, we will tackle the causes of crime to make communities safer places to live and work. We will deal swiftly and effectively with those who commit crime and secure a criminal justice system that fully supports victims and witnesses. We will combat anti-social behaviour, particularly by a minority of young people. We will reform the courts and legal system to deal with cases more efficiently. We will continue to modernise the law and legal systems to protect individual rights.'

Positive steps towards the achievement of this Partnership Agreement are evident through the establishment of pilots for Drugs, Youth, and Domestic Abuse Courts and additional investment in the Victim Information and Advice Service. Reform of the criminal justice system remains high on the agenda with the publication of the Next Steps paper Smarter Justice, Safer Communities in March 2005.

Through effective engagement with criminal justice partners and a major training programme of our own staff we are ensuring that the High Court Reform Programme is delivering its objective of more efficient ways of working for the benefit of victims, witnesses and court users. We will also aim to be at the heart of the Summary Justice Reform Programme to ensure smarter and swifter justice in that context.

The achievement of the above will ensure and underpin an environment and climate free of the fear of crime to:

• promote conditions for long-term sustainable growth;

• support investment in local businesses and the local economy;

• enhance/Investment in individuals and the development of skills;

• regenerate communities;

• maximise the potential labour force; and

• promote Scotland as a safe place to live and work.

COPFS also contributes to wider Scottish Executive priorities such as the Small Units Initiative, with the Department transferring tape transcription duties from the Central Belt to Dingwall and Tain creating ten new jobs for the local economy in financial year 2004-05.

Closing the Opportunity Gap/Promoting Equality

Closing the Opportunity Gap

Crime is concentrated disproportionately in communities that are disadvantaged. Both perpetrators of crime and victims of crime live for the most part in disadvantaged communities. Speedier and more effective prosecutions - concentrating particularly on persistent offenders - should reduce the impact on crime upon the communities and individuals whose lives are afflicted by it. This will help to support the Partnership Agreement commitment of stronger, safer communities.

The Crown has the power to freeze (restrain) assets at an early stage of a case, namely when criminal investigation has commenced. The first stage in a criminal confiscation case, therefore, is to obtain a restraint order either in the Sheriff Court or the Court of Session in order to freeze the assets of an accused (including any assets transferred to other persons) to ensure that the assets are still available and have not been disposed of by the time the case is concluded. This means that in the majority of cases within the Department's Financial Crime Unit to which criminal confiscation proceedings are appropriate, there will be a restraint order in place at an early stage freezing the assets of the accused until such time as the trial is concluded and confiscation proceedings can commence. Criminal confiscation proceedings can only commence when an accused has been convicted, and for that reason, therefore, assets will normally have been frozen for a period of up to twelve months beforehand. In financial year 2004-05, the Financial Crime Unit froze £37.8m of assets. These are assets that the Crown anticipate will be the subject of confiscation orders, should the accused be convicted. In financial year 2004-05, the Financial Crime Unit obtained confiscation orders with a total value of £1.36m.

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 introduced for the first time in the UK the concept of civil recovery - that is proceedings in the civil courts to recover the proceeds of criminal conduct without the necessary precondition of a criminal conviction. From the introduction of the provisions until 31 March 2005, the Civil Recovery Unit secured the recovery of £1.7m to Scottish Ministers. Substantial further sums are frozen under civil processes, and in due course, it is hoped that these assets will also be recovered through civil recovery proceedings for the benefit of Scottish Ministers.

With the agreement of the Home Office and HM Treasury, from financial year 2006-07, the Scottish Executive has the scope to recycle amounts recovered through criminal and civil proceedings up to a ceiling of £17m and to reinvest through initiatives in disadvantaged communities. In 2004-05 over £1m, recovered through civil and criminal proceedings, was spent on Crimestoppers Scotland's 'Drug Dealers Don't Care' campaign.

We will provide additional resources of £0.6m each year from 2006-07 to support proceedings through the civil courts to recover assets financed by the proceeds of crime.

Promoting Equality

The Department is committed to promoting equality and ensuring that services are accessible to disadvantaged groups. The Department's effort to target and improve the handling of cases that involve race crime will serve to bolster confidence in the justice system amongst ethnic minority groups and improve opportunities and life chances of the members of ethnic minority communities. This was the subject of the first review conducted by the Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland. The recommendations flowing from the review are being actively pursued (Target 2 above refers). The Inspectorate has recognised the positive work done by Procurator Fiscal Offices is the handling of race crime cases.

As part of our Race Equality Action Plan, the Department has completed a major Diversity Awareness Programme with all members of staff required to attend an intensive two day course. The Department invested in the region of £0.35m in the Diversity Awareness Programme.

Sustainable Development

The Department makes a contribution to sustainable development by prosecuting environmental crime. It takes this responsibility seriously and in support of the commitment in the Partnership Agreement we will:

• provide increased training (funding of £0.1m) for prosecutors in dealing with environmental and wildlife crime;

• take criminal proceedings where the evidence available justifies it and where prosecution is in the public interest; and

• continue to improve 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.

Through the Department's Future Office System ( FOS) project and the introduction of electronic case management and marking with FOS, we have reduced paper filing; electronic transmission of reports between offices will also reduce paper reliant systems. The Department will continue to follow best practice on sustainable procurement contributing to the sustainable development agenda.

« Previous | Contents | Next »