14 March 2008
The performance of the Crown Prosecution Service continues to improve, with inspectors rating almost half of CPS areas as excellent or good.
HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate this week published the results of its overall performance assessment of the 42 areas which make up the CPS. The OPA provides a performance benchmark in 13 key areas, including pre-charge decision making, service to victims and witnesses, and resource management.
This is the second time the inspectorate has conducted the assessments and the results showed a slight improvement on those of 2005.
Five areas were rated as excellent, 15 as good, 20 as fair and two – Leicestershire and Surrey – as poor. This compares with three excellent areas and four poor ones in 2005. All four areas rated poor in 2005 have raised their performance; three to fair and one to good. Overall conviction rates had improved, rising in magistrates' courts from 80.8% in 2004/05 to 84.3% 2006/07, and in crown courts improving from 75.8% to 77.7%.
But there was concern about variation in performance, which inspectors said was 'greater than might be expected in a national service'.
They also noted that, while management capacity had been strengthened, this had not translated into improved casework performance and said there was a need to develop more careful and thorough case preparation, particularly in magistrates' courts.
Stephen Wooler, chief inspector of the CPSI, said: 'The overall strengthening of the CPS performance is welcome. This was achieved against the background of inevitable pressure from the extensive changes within the wider criminal justice system.
'The service is aware of the need to strengthen its management of cases in the magistrates' courts work, to maintain its renewed focus on dealing with persistent young offenders, and to raise further the levels of care and the provision of information to victims. The challenge now is to achieve greater consistency across the 42 areas and raise the performance of the majority of areas to good or excellent.'
A CPS spokeswoman said: 'The assessments are a useful benchmark for the areas in making sure they are delivering justice to their local communities. Each area is fully committed to raising its performance to be as effective as possible.'
PFmar2008
