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7 MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Leadership:

Leadership is a way of focusing and motivating others to enable them to contribute toward the success and effectiveness of the organisation for which they work. It also involves being accountable and responsible for the group as a whole.

A leader should provide inspiration and drive and be flexible in managing changes of direction.

The following information was obtained through interviews with staff, analysis of questionnaires and review of the Area Business Plan.

Current staffing in the Grampian Area is based on the Crown Office grading structure and is shown in the 'Introduction' of this report. It forms an organisation of responsibilities and lets staff know who to contact with any issues.

All senior staff have attended the mandatory Leadership Development Programme.

The Grampian Area hold Area Management Team Meetings roughly every two months. In attendance are the Area Fiscal, Area Business Manager, District Fiscals and other staff (legal, admin or VIA as required). Minutes of the meetings are posted on the intranet for all staff to see and items discussed are cascaded down to offices/teams at team briefings. Agendas and minutes of meetings were provided and it was noted that the meetings covered a wide variety of work, for example:

• Liaison with the police
• Emergency response
• Communication
• Operational Performance
• Disclosure
• Vulnerable Witness Act
• New Crown Office instructions/initiatives
• Training and development
• Diversity

Team briefings within the offices are carried out once a month and this allows staff to be advised of performance etc and give them the opportunity to discuss any issues they have.

New meetings have been set up for legal staff in Aberdeen as a result of them feeling that they were being 'left out' with being in court. This allows legal staff to discuss issues amongst themselves without management present. Any matters arising from these can later be put to management. The Area Business Manager advised that they hope to set one up for admin staff.

The Area Team try to perform formal visits to the smaller offices in Banff, Elgin and Peterhead every two to three months and in addition to this the Area Business Manager or the Area Fiscal take turns to visit these offices on an informal basis. Given that the Area Team is based in the Aberdeen office they are always on hand for any discussion and try to be seen to be approachable.

It is considered that staff are kept well informed of new initiatives and changes in work processes although there may be issues surrounding the implementation of these as detailed in the following Sections and at 'Disclosure' in Chapter 4.

Staff Management:

Having the right number of staff at the right time is vital in ensuring that objectives can be achieved. Management should perform a staffing needs assessment which will allow identification of numbers required to fulfil the business obligations. Procedures should be put in place to manage staff in order that they can perform their duties in an efficient and effective manner.

As part of the business planning process the Area Business Manager in consultation with the Area Fiscal and other staff (Office Managers and District Fiscals) review previous and expected workloads to identify staffing requirements. They also consult with the police to identify their priorities as this may have an effect on type of cases eg a concentration on drug trafficking.

Workload staffing forecast tables are also used to aid this process. Agreed unit values per category of cases processed are totalled and divided by the number of different types of staff to show expected output per type of staff.

The 2007/08 workload forecast showed that with a full compliment of staff there would be a higher level of units produced by staff in the Area than in the national benchmark:

There have been significant structural changes in the Grampian Area such as amalgamating Aberdeen and Stonehaven, reducing the number of Band G posts in Aberdeen, reducing the grading of the High Court Manager in Aberdeen from Band F to E, reducing the grading of the Fiscal post in Banff and combining Peterhead and Banff offices into a single unit.

Recruitment and retention of staff is described as a significant challenge and constraint in the Area from all members of staff interviewed. It is reported that in the last year there have been 5 legal staff resignations and 2 transfers to Crown Office. As a result there has been a great loss of experienced staff. We were advised that around 56% of legal staff in the Aberdeen Office have less than one year's experience.

There is also an issue relating to admin posts in that the oil and gas industries can offer greater salaries and as a result it is becoming difficult to recruit. At the time of our visit to the Aberdeen office there were 11 vacant admin posts.

The Area has contributed to a departmental working group on recruitment and retention in remote locations and has negotiated some flexibility in starting salaries for admin staff. The services of casual staff and ad hoc Deputes are also used in order to help the Area function and meet targets.

The Area does make every effort to ensure that all offices help each other out. For example, due to a large increase in solemn work in the Elgin office a Depute has been reallocated from Aberdeen to Elgin.

Disclosure and the Vulnerable Witness Act are described as having a huge impact on the Area. This along with the loss of staff has meant that current staff are working a significant number of paid and unpaid overtime.

Staff interviewed have informed that they although they know that changes have to take place they are concerned over the recruitment and retention problem which is causing extra pressure and thus staff morale is low in the Area.

The Area Business Manager provided an analysis of recorded flexible hours that were lost during the four and a half month period from 9 April to 24 August 2007:

The above table shows a total of 942.5 excess flexible hours were lost, however, this does not include hours of unpaid extra hours performed by staff who do not work flexible working hours. For example the Fiscal at Elgin also works many hours which are not recorded and in fact the week we were visiting the Area she was on annual leave but had been in the office for some time every day that week. Also while visiting the Aberdeen office it was noted that many members of staff were still in the office well after 5.30pm. We were informed that it is not unusual to have staff there until 8pm trying to catch up with work.

All managers are aware of the situation and encourage staff to take the time off but staff know that if they do take the time back or do not work these hours there would be a drastic effect on the operation of the business.

In addition to this the Area Business Manager advised that for the same period a total of 896 hours were claimed for paid overtime. We were advised that these work hours are in addition to the lost flexi hours as a check is made in the Area Office to ensure that staff are not claiming flexible hours in addition to paid overtime.

Office/Section Managers are responsible for attendance management. When a member of staff returns to work a form E9A (sick form) is completed and a back to work interview carried out. Forms are then forwarded to Human Resources and copied to the Area Business Manager. Management information returns detailing all absences are issued to offices from Human Resources which are crossed referenced with office records and appropriate action is taken at specified target dates. The Area Business Manager also monitors sickness and absence rates in line with the COPFS Attendance Management Policy.

There is a system of performance appraisal which provides staff with feedback on their work performance. The Learning Academy is used to record performance assessment, however, it has proved difficult to use and it is reported that managers are sometimes unable to access the system to complete their parts of the performance appraisal form. This is the case throughout the whole of the COPFS.

The Area observes the Departmental policies relating the recruitment and Band B posts are advertised in the Jobcentre Plus and the Civil Service Gateway. Special permission was granted from Crown Office for the Area to advertise for a legal position due to the difficulty is getting applications in the Area. Adverts are also placed with GREC (Grampian Racial Equality Council) in an attempt to reach the ethnic minority community.

We asked whether there are adequate resources to allow staff to perform their duties in an efficient and effective manner. We were advised that FOS2 is a source of frustration in that it is slow to respond and thus has an effect on the efficiency of the service provided. The new telephony system has also been referred to as a problem and outside agencies have commented on the cost of calling the offices.

With regard to accommodation there are discussions taking place about relocating the Elgin office as there is not enough room in the current accommodation to house all staff, equipment and files and the Sheriff Court Service have informed that they need more space for court purposes. It was noted that on the day we visited the office there were case papers lying around the floor as there was no room to file them away. There are also discussions taking place with Estates at Crown Office regarding obtaining new premises for the Peterhead office as the present accommodation at the court is old and split over three levels. The Area Business Manager indicated that accommodation at the Aberdeen office is getting a bit tight also and closed cases are stored off-site which causes delays in retrieving case papers. The Area Team have spoken with Estates relating to this but no plans are in place to make changes to current arrangements in the Aberdeen office.

The Area Management Team advised that they are aware that service wide there are pressures on resources and therefore there is a need to look for ways of working more efficiently and concentrating resource in those areas where it is most required. This means there is a process of constant evaluation and re-evaluation and it is built into the business planning process.

Staff commitment to the Area is very much acknowledged and it is noted that they are doing their very best to address the staffing issues.

We received further information in January 2008 from the Area Fiscal relating to staffing in the Area and noted the following problems faced by the Grampian Area:

• Over the past year the Area has at times operated at 30-40 % below legal complement. Experience levels also continue to be of concern with some 85% of legal staff having less than 3 years experience and 50% with less than 1 year.
• Administrative resource has operated under similar constraints with some 50% of Band B posts being filled by casual or agency staff at some points during the year and around 70% of permanent staff having less than 1 year's experience.
• Staff have worked extremely hard to maintain core operational functions and meet agreed targets.
• During the 9 month period from April to December 2007 staff worked 1594 hours overtime and worked 1377 hours flexi time over and above the permitted "carry over" allowance.
• As at 1 January Aberdeen had 4 Depute vacancies (complement 16) 2 Band C vacancies (complement 2) and 7.5 Band B vacancies (complement 22.3).

The following are a note of steps taken by the Grampian Area to deal with these difficulties:

• They have undertaken local recruitment, advertising in local as well as national press
• Staff have tried to identify friends, contacts and former colleagues in the legal profession within Grampian who may be interested in a career with COPFS - one Depute has been recruited this way
• Regular discussions take place with local managers and staff to ensure that they are aware of steps being taken and to seek views and ideas of other ways to approach
• They look for support from other Areas and have secured 'Marking' assistance from other Areas (principally Tayside, and Highlands and Islands, Central, Argyll and Clyde) and have secured Depute support from Glasgow for Sheriff and Jury work - around 4 weeks in total of secondment
• They have moved experienced staff at Principal Depute and Depute level across teams to where they are most needed
• They ran a local Principal Depute promotion board in the absence of willing candidates from the National Principal Depute board reserve list and a local candidate was successful
• As a result of outside marking assistance they have reduced initial case processing team to minimum levels and moved staff to solemn and summary teams
• They have reviewed working practices, trying to streamline process and be more efficient eg Disclosure, discontinuation policy
• Senior staff have undertaken court work and other work within front line teams
• They have secured a pool of ad doc Deputes prepared to work in Grampian
• They have secured additional precognition support by using a recent law graduate who has a traineeship with the Department commencing in 2008 on a fixed term contract and have recruited a recently retired police officer in Peterhead on a short term contract as a precognition officer
• Grampian has been represented at numerous careers fairs, including legal recruitment events at Robert Gordon University and Aberdeen University. They approach the Universities re vacancies, short term and permanent, that arise. The Area Procurator Fiscal has addressed groups of students, giving an overview of the work of COPFS and career opportunities and has had a meeting with a representative of Aberdeen University to explore ways to cement liaison arrangements and continuity thereof to mutual benefit.
• They have prepared a local guide to the work of COPFS and career opportunities (both Legal and Admin) for use at career events
• A former Depute was re-instated on a part time basis
• They have established a programme of Deputes meetings, run by two senior and experienced Principal Deputes which take place once a fortnight. This is a forum for Deputes to discuss work-related issues and tap into the experience and expertise of senior colleagues. The agenda is driven by the Deputes and involves, eg discussion of "how to" deal with various common areas of work.
• They have a regular programme of monthly seminars on a variety of topics, programmed to run for 1-2 hours on a day when there are fewest courts. These may be targeted at certain groups of staff in particular but are open to all and also serve as useful team building exercises. Visits have also been arranged, to Aberdeen Journals and to the Grampian Police Forensic Laboratory.
• Recognising the relative inexperience of Aberdeen staff compared to those in the smaller offices, they are designing an exchange programme to allow new legal staff the opportunity of a spell in one of the district offices, and the one-to-one support/coaching/mentoring that would afford. Staffing issues in each of those offices has meantime stalled progress on this initiative.
• They have tried, with no success, to fill Band C vacancies via internal/external recruitment using the Learning Academy, Jobcentre Plus, Civil Service Gateway websites and local press. The vacant Band C posts have been advertised as 6-month secondment opportunities and 2 experienced Band Bs have been identified to fill the posts on temporary promotion.
• Grampian has been represented at numerous career fairs at various secondary schools and other academic institutions
• They have temporarily seconded precognition staff with Band C management experience to assist in shoring up the administrative support in Aberdeen, getting systems back on track and assisting in training the many new starts. They will provide mentoring support to the new temporary Band C staff mentioned above.
• They negotiated permission to vary starting salaries when recruiting staff currently earning more elsewhere although so far this has had no impact
• They have moved experienced staff across teams to where they are needed most
• Experienced staff from across the Area are assisting with training of new/Casual staff, in particular, the Office Manager, Elgin and PA to the District Fiscal, Aberdeen
• The Grampian Area Team have been assisting with Aberdeen work to free up Aberdeen staff
• All Grampian Procurator Fiscal's Offices have been assisting Aberdeen with police interview tapes
• They have explored the option of filling Aberdeen posts in the north of the Area where recruitment is easier. Elgin PF Office is to relocate in February/March 2008 (as a result of Court Unification) and they have secured additional space which would allow them to fill 2/3 Aberdeen posts in Elgin.
• They have successfully recruited 2 new staff who will undertake Aberdeen work but will be based in Dundee PF Office
• They sought help from other Areas and secured assistance from experienced Band Bs from Lothian and Borders - around 2 weeks at a time One of the L&B staff who assisted is now to join on 6 month secondment on temporary promotion to Band C
• They have used Casual and Agency staff throughout the year

Subject to approval of the Business Plan/Budget proposal the Grampian Area propose to:

• Further explore options for moving experienced staff and work across the Area and beyond
• Make greater use of smaller Procurator Fiscal's Offices as training grounds for new legal and admin staff as there is more experience in the smaller Procurator Fiscal's Offices than in Aberdeen
• Build on existing processes for sharing experience eg PEER groups, Team Briefings, Training Days
• Improve training of new staff by utilising the experience and skills of Band C Secondees
• Have experienced Admin Managers review training and Induction of new staff
• Secure additional off-site storage for Peterhead to free up space in that Office to locate additional admin staff

We consider that the Area is being extremely proactive in addressing the recruitment and retention issue facing the Grampian Area and it is hoped that steps taken such as those mentioned above will go a long way to help with staff morale, business efficiency and the continued achievement of meeting operational targets.

A diagram showing the staffing structure in the Grampian Area can be found at Chapter 1.

Training:

It is important that staff are provided with appropriate training to help ensure that they can perform their work in an effective and efficient manner.

The Grampian Area participates in all of the COPFS training initiatives. For example all appropriate staff have attended the Departmental Leadership Development Programme.

The Area has a training committee which consists of the Area Fiscal, Area Business Manager, Area PA, Fiscal Officer from Aberdeen and others as and when required. The committee meets roughly every six weeks and considers how training is being carried out against the training plan. This is also translated into the training section of the business planning process.

The Committee carries out six monthly training audits. This helps to identify topics for the ongoing training programme. 'Thursday Seminars' are also held where staff provide ideas for training. These ideas are then taken forward and guests are invited to speak to staff, for example, topics include:

• Forensic Pathology
• Firearms
• Changing population of Grampian, delivered by Grampian Racial Equality Council
• Role of the Advocate Depute
• HR Issues
• Role of the Communications Team, Crown Office
• Role of the Health and Safety Executive, etc

There has also been a visit to the police forensic laboratories.

Training is also an issue that is discussed at team meetings and Area meetings and training days relating to new initiatives and on-going changes in practice etc are attended on occasion by partner agencies. For example:

• There was joint training with Grampian Police on the Summary Justice Reform
• The District Fiscal, Aberdeen has taken the lead role in increasing the use of Undertakings in partnership with Grampian Police and the Scottish Courts Service
• Phase 3 of the Vulnerable Witness Act

The Area is proactive in ensuring that staff are involved in providing training on the role of the Procurator Fiscal Service to other agencies. Volunteers are asked for from all offices in the Area to attend events such as school fayres etc.

All new staff attend induction courses and managers use the standard Crown Office induction checklist. There are also desk instructions for use.

Training is an issue that is discussed with members of staff at stages in the reporting year and effectiveness of attendance on a course is evaluated.

The Area promotes rotation of duties and job shadowing, however, this can be difficult in the smaller offices. There is a rota for Deputes and Principal Deputes in the Aberdeen office and there is a 3 to 6 month rota for admin grades although this tends to be through need as a result of the high turnover of staff. The Area Team also provides shadowing/deputising positions and the Area Band C had recently been standing in for the Area Business Manager.

The Area hope that they will be able to send new Deputes from the Aberdeen office to the smaller offices to gain wider experience of duties and be trained by a very experienced Fiscal. This at the same time should provide 'relief' to the Aberdeen office from experienced Deputes.

As with all offices in the Procurator Fiscal Service, data integrity is an issue for the Area. In order to address this the Band C in the Area Team was given responsibility to train staff on the importance of making sure that the correct codes etc are input to the IT system. A 'case marking' workshop took place in May 2007.

The main impact on the Area with regard to training is the cost and time lost of staff attending training courses as most of them have been held in the central belt and will now be held in the new Scottish Prosecution College which is located in Glasgow.

It is considered that Grampian Area is very active in offering staff with opportunities to attend training events and providing a wide and varied training programme that is of benefit to both staff and the business in turn as staff will gain a better understanding of the workings of the criminal justice system and its partners.

Financial Management and Budgetary Control:

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Budget Manual states that the Area Fiscal (or Budget Holder) is responsible for financial control of the Grampian Area. The Area Business Manager is the member of staff designated by the Area Fiscal to monitor expenditure and budgets on her behalf and participate in the annual budgeting exercise. Explanations for deviations from planned spending patterns should be reported to the Management Board at Crown Office.

The Area Business Manager is responsible for creating the financial budget as part of the Business Planning process. Financial needs are identified by looking at current staffing, current and expected workloads, trends, new initiatives, etc. The budget consists of staffing costs, office related costs and case related costs. The proposed budget is passed to the Area Fiscal for approval before being forwarded to Crown Office.

The Area Business Manager is also responsible for monitoring expenditure on a monthly basis. He receives monthly financial reports from Finance Division and checks actual expenditure against planned expenditure. This information is now available on screen in the Area Business Network folder of the G Drive. This allows him to look at various screens, for example, forecasts, staffing costs and transaction reports which allows him to drill down into each transaction if required. He looks for any unexpected costs and will make enquiries where necessary. The Area Business Manager advised that staff in the Grampian Area are good at letting him know if there is likely to be any unusual spend for example a witness travelling from a far distance which will incur high costs.

Detailed pay reports are also supplied and this allows the Area Business Manager to keep track of staff costs.

The Area has indicated that it does have adequate financial resources and that there is a reserve (from underspend on salaries as a result of recruitment and retention issues and from resilience funds) that allows employment of casuals and ad hoc legal staff. There is an issue with recruitment and retention of staff in the Area and at present there is no recruitment and retention provision to attract staff or retain experienced staff ¹⁵. The Area Team are looking into ascertaining whether such a provision can be provided.

In terms of keeping costs down the Area Business Manager was successful in rejecting a request from the mortuary providers to increase the mortuary costs by 50%.

The Area has been looking into more cost effective ways for dealing with communication and they are awaiting video conferencing facilities which will help reduce travel costs as meetings will be able to be held remotely. They are also piloting digital dictation in Peterhead and Banff to facilitate the flow of work between the two offices.

It is expected that the new Scottish Prosecution College which is based in Glasgow will have an impact on travel and subsistence costs.

Office Managers have responsibility for the Government Procurement Card and they can also approve invoices up to £500 which is within the Crown Office delegated limits. The two Office Managers interviewed indicated that they did not receive any details of financial expenditure but that the Area Team does discuss such issues at office visits. It is felt that they should become more involved in the monitoring of finance for their own offices as it will give them a better understanding of the costs involved in the operation of their business and also give them more control over the expenditure for such. The Area is currently encouraging them to take a more proactive role in this area and have given them control for overtime costs in their offices.

It is our opinion that the Area keeps good control over finances.

Risk Management:

The objective of risk management is to identify and make provisions to reduce risks related to the business.

The Area Business Manager is responsible for creating and maintaining a risk register for the Area. This is approved by the Area Fiscal and is updated as and when is necessary taking account of changing needs and processes. Identification of risks is part of the Business Planning Process.

A copy of the current risk register was provided and it was found to be based on Strategic, Area and Office objectives. All appropriate areas of the business are addressed and the register details controls that should allow key planned activities to be met.

The main risk identified by the Area is the continuing problem with recruitment and retention of staff. It is to the Area's credit that targets have continued to be met under these constraints, although staff have indicated that morale is pretty low as a result.

Change Management:

Change management entails thoughtful planning and sensitive implementation, and above all, consultation with and involvement of, the people affected by the changes. Change must be realistic, achievable and measurable.

The Area considers communication and planning to be crucial factors in managing change and will consult staff to seek ideas, secure 'buy in', implement and then review. Stakeholders are also involved in change where appropriate for example the Police and Court Service have been involved in the Summary Justice Reform concerning the increased use of undertakings ¹⁶.

Service wide changes such as Summary Justice Reform, FOS 2, Vulnerable Witness Act and Disclosure are described as major changes and have presented the Area with a challenge. Information on Disclosure can be found in Chapter 4 and in the case reviews.

As a result of change in processes and workloads the Area have addressed these by making significant structural changes, for example, Banff and Peterhead are now a single operational unit. There was a pilot in these offices whereby the Depute would spend 3 days at Banff and two at Peterhead with all custodies on Thursdays and Fridays calling in Peterhead. This was being reviewed at the time of our visit as there had been concerns expressed by the local bench and solicitors.

Other changes include:

• Allocation of an extra Depute to Elgin (transferred from Aberdeen) as a result of increased solemn business
• Establishment of a Disclosure Unit in the Aberdeen office

Feedback indicated that a challenge for management is motivating staff during times of change especially with the difficulties associated with the new phone system and the slow response in FOS2. It was reported that staff are keen to do their very best but such issues are having a negative impact on morale.

There was also expressed frustration caused by the 'bedding in' time of new systems eg Disclosure, FOS2 and new telephone system. These cause backlogs and is creating extra pressure on staff and again causing a dip in morale.

The geographical location of the offices in the Area is also reported to be a challenge. To address this the Area has been looking into providing an exchange programme in which new Deputes in Aberdeen will be given an opportunity to work in a smaller office where they can obtain wider experience and one-to-one contact with an experienced Fiscal. This at the same time should provide 'relief' to the Aberdeen office with experienced Deputes coming in to Aberdeen.

It has been noted that Area Management are aware of all these issues and take responsibility for trying to seek ways to alleviate problems and continue to meet operational targets by communicating with staff and stakeholders where appropriate in order to identify changes necessary that should go a long way to help ensure operational efficiency and effectiveness. It is also noted, however, that these constraints are causing poor morale.

Complaints Handling:

There are Area guidelines available to staff on complaints handling. This document details a chart of steps to take when a complaint is received and who should deal with the complaint. It is based on the Crown Office guidelines on complaints handling.

Formal complaints are dealt with at local level by appropriate levels of management eg Office Managers, District Fiscal or Area Fiscal and are recorded in the Respond ¹⁷ system by either the Area PA or Office Managers as appropriate. Hard copies are also retained. The national target of resolving complaints within 20 days is observed and attempts are made to comply with this target.

Where complaints cannot be satisfactorily resolved at the first management level they are referred to more senior managers for resolution.

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