The Scottish Government

OFFICE INSPECTION - LANARK

25 FEBRUARY 2005

Background

We are committed to regular audits of district and area offices to ensure compliance with race relations, policies and strategies.

This is our report of the Procurator Fiscal's office at Lanark. The Lanark office is part of the Lanarkshire Area.

Methodology

Our approach to the office inspections involved consideration of the following areas:

• Adherence to policy guidelines in relation to prosecution of racist crime
• Use of interpreters and translation issues
• Employment issues
• Consultation with communities
• Deaths involving racial and/or cultural awareness issues

The following measures were taken to inform the inspection process:

Sampling of race charges

COPFS has a single corporate database (herein referred to as the National Database) that connects all Procurator Fiscal offices and Crown Office units, and facilitates the transfer of legal casework. An extract of data from the National Database was obtained from Management Information Division in Crown Office, containing details of all charges with a racial element reported to fiscal offices over the course of financial years 2002-03 and 2003-04. It is worth noting that the database is an operational one, not statistical, and hence is 'live', being constantly updated as cases progress. As such the extract was a 'snapshot' as at January 2005.

A sample of Section 50 racial charges and charges with Section 96 racial aggravations recorded against them was drawn from the data for 2003-04 and the related case papers were requested from the office and examined by the team. These were charges that appeared, as recorded on the database, to have been dealt with in accordance with the guidelines - this part of the sampling exercise was designed simply to be an independent check on compliance with policy.

The charges were drawn using a stratified random sampling method. For details regarding the sampling methodology employed, please contact Kirsty MacLean (e-mail kirsty.maclean@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or telephone 0141-229-6203).

Additionally all case papers containing any charges which appeared, as recorded on the database, to have been dealt with in contravention to the guidelines, were specifically requested for examination. Since these charges were of particular interest to us, we requested the relevant case papers in relation any such charges from both 2002-03 and 2003-04.

The contraventions of policy that can be identified from examination of the data extract from the database are charges in respect of which a fiscal fine had been issued, or a warning letter. (Note however that revised guidance from Crown Office was issued to staff on 23rd June 2004, which thereafter made it possible to issue a warning letter in exceptional circumstances, with the agreement of the Area Fiscal).

Case papers were also automatically requested which contained any charges that were recorded on the database as being unmarked, or any charges where no proceedings had been taken due to a delay by any agency.

Similarly, charges reported to the fiscal office in 2003-04 that were recorded as being marked for no proceedings were specifically requested for examination, because the way in which the coding system employed by the National Database operates does not allow for recording of reason for a marking of 'no proceedings' at charge level.

Case papers for cases that were included in in-house statistical returns (covering the 3 month period from September - November 2004) on racist crime to the Crown Office Legal and Policy Forum meeting in January 2005 were also requested for examination.

Case papers were also requested to be made available on the day of inspection, regarding any deaths which were reported and investigated in the office over a 12 month period where:

• special consideration was required, as defined in Annex 3 in chapter 12 of the Book of Regulations (racial and cultural awareness)

• the ethnicity of the deceased was in some way related to the cause of death (e.g. the murder of someone from a minority ethnic background)

A questionnaire covering a number of issues related to the areas for consideration (as outlined above) was sent to the office in advance of the inspection and returns were analysed to allow exploration of any issues raised in the returns, on the day of the inspection.

The composition of staff in post (numbers, grade and ethnicity) in the office was considered prior to the inspection visit. Similarly considered was the proportion of staff that had attended the Diversity Awareness programme.

2001 Census data was obtained from the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) showing Sheriff Court Districts (which equate to fiscal office area) by ethnic group, to allow us to consider the staff ethnicity information in the context of local population ethnic mix.

Race Crime

Crown Office policy on the prosecution of racist crime is a robust one and the execution of the policy is closely monitored by the Department. A member of legal staff decides what course of action to take in each case, this is then checked by the District Fiscal for compliance with the Departmental policy and a copy of the case is then sent to the Area Fiscal. Responsibility for the monitoring of compliance in such cases lies with the Area Fiscal. 3 monthly reports from the Areas are considered at the Legal and Policy Forum.

There are normally only 2 members of legal staff at Lanark, the Fiscal and a Depute. At the time of the inspection there was only one member of legal staff, namely the Procurator Fiscal.

If the Fiscal himself marks a case then the check on that is provided when the case goes to the Area Fiscal. The Fiscal audits the marking of all race related cases where he does not initially take the legal decision.

Table 1 - Racial charges and racial aggravations reported to Lanark fiscal office, 2002-03 and 2003-04

The data extracted from the National Database revealed that in respect of the Lanark office, in financial year (FY) 2002-03:

• 2 Section 50A(1) (a) charges were reported
• 4 Section 50A(1) (b)charges were reported
• 4 charges with Section 96 aggravations recorded against them were reported

And in FY 2003-04:

• No Section 50A(1) (a) charges were reported
• 8 Section 50A(1) (b) charges were reported
• 2 charges with Section 96 aggravations recorded against them were reported

No charges were automatically requested for inspection, in that no charges appeared, as recorded on the database, to have been dealt with in contravention of the policy. Nor were there any charges that had been marked for no proceedings at charge level.

Because the total number of Section 50A(1) charges in FY 2003-04 was less than 10, all were selected for inspection; likewise charges with Section 96 aggravations recorded against them. A total of 8 case papers were subsequently requested for inspection.

Note that the number of case papers requested is not the same as number of charges drawn for sampling because a case can (and frequently does) contain more than one charge. Since the sampling was conducted at charge level, in some instances, more than one charge from a single case was selected into the sample. This meant that the number of case papers requested was lower than the number of individual charges selected.

A further 8 case papers (each containing at least one charge of interest) that were reported in the routine statistical return to the Legal & Policy Forum (LPF) meeting in January 2005 were also requested. An overall total of 16 case papers, therefore, were requested for inspection by the team.

On the day of the inspection visit, we examined all of the 8 cases drawn from the extract of data from the National Database, checking for compliance with race policy by the Fiscal and the Police.

We found that the office complied with Departmental policy on marking and conduct of court proceedings in 7 out of 8 cases (9 out of the 10 charges). Our inspection found a good reason for deviating from the policy in the remaining case.

The further 8 cases which were reported in the return to the LPF had already been checked by the Area Fiscal for compliance with Departmental policy and found to be compliant at marking stage. However one case was highlighted at the Court stage where, in the opinion of the Area Fiscal the Court Depute had not complied with Departmental policy.

As part of the inspection process we audited 5 of these cases and found that in 4 out of the 5 the office had complied with Departmental policy on marking. There was compliance with Departmental policy for court proceedings in all 5 cases although 4 out of the 5 had yet to be concluded.

All 5 cases were additionally appropriately referred to Victim Information and Advice (VIA) Division.

In none of the cases was an interpreter required.

Interpreters

In respect of the 8 cases drawn from the extract of data from the National Database, in only one case did a witness require an interpreter; unfortunately the Police Reporting Officer did not identify the language spoken correctly. This was never rectified as the witness was never traced.

There has been no use made of interpreters by the Lanark office in the last year. Requests however would be made via the Area office at Hamilton.

Deaths

There were no deaths reported to the Lanark office in the relevant period where either the deceased or next of kin were from an ethnic minority.

Employment

Latest data [1] shows that just over 99 per cent of the population in the Lanark Sheriff Court District area is from a white background. Other ethnic groups, of which Pakistani is the largest at 0.3 per cent, account for less than one per cent.

As at 1st January 2005, the Lanark office had a staff of 7, consisting of:

Legal staff

· 1 Procurator Fiscal

· 1 Procurator Fiscal Depute

· 1 Precognition Officer

Administrative staff

· 1 Band C manager

· 3 Band B

On the date of the inspection visit, the number of staff had fallen to 6 and consequently the office was awaiting the appointment of a new Depute.

There are no members of staff from minority ethnic background in the Lanark office (as self-reported to Human Resources Division in COPFS via survey). The last member of staff recruited locally was recruited 15 years ago; staff turnover is very low. Given that minority ethnic representation in the area is very low, we concluded that it was not untoward that out of 7 staff members, there were none from a minority ethnic background.

All staff in the Lanark office have attended the Departmental Diversity Awareness Programme.

Conclusions

We saw 13 of the 16 cases requested (the 13 cases containing 15 charges of interest). In respect of 12 out of the 13 cases (14 out of 15 charges) the Fiscal complied with Departmental marking policy. There was compliance in 12 out of 13 cases (14 out of 15 charges) in terms of Departmental policy being followed throughout Court proceedings but not all of the cases had reached a conclusion.

We conclude that the Lanark office has thus far done a good job in complying with Crown Office race policy.

[1] General Register Office for Scotland 2001 Census of Population