Integrated Prosecution Teams

Report: 15
Date: 19 July 2007
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides details of costs incurred by the MPS on the three pilot Integrated Prosecution Team sites.

A. Recommendations

That members

1. Note the contents of this report.

B. Supporting information

1. On the 22 March 2007 urgent action authority was obtained from MPA members to proceed with three pilot sites for the Integrated Prosecution Team. This report has been prepared to fulfil the requirement that the actual cost of the implementation of the pilots is reported once all three are in place.

2. The Integrated Prosecution Team (IPT) concept involves the collocation of MPS and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) staff in police stations in order to deliver efficiency savings, performance improvement and improved citizen focus. The principal methods of delivery will be elimination of the substantial duplication that currently occurs between police and CPS and improvements in the initial case-build that dramatically reduces the need for post charge remedial work.

3. CPS staff are now collocated in three police buildings (Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets and Hackney) and are performing the role previously performed by MPS crime case clerks. This has enabled MPS case clerks to be redeployed as Case Builders in Case Progression Units (CPUs) or within a Post-Prosecution support function. Employment of Case Builders, together with enhanced quality assurance within CPUs, will lead to the improved quality of case papers and less remedial work being required, allowing for swift progression of a single prosecution file through the criminal justice system.

4. The IPT project is a partnership venture with the CPS, and both organisations have incurred costs in setting up the pilot sites.

5. The cost to the MPS of setting up the three pilot sites was estimated at £165,700, comprising £130,000 Property Services Directorate (PSD) costs and £35,700 DoI costs. These were indicative costs supplied by Property Services and Directorate of Information.

6. The actual cost of the pilot sites to the MPS was £196,521. These are broken down in Tables 1 to 3 in the financial implications section of this report.

Abbreviations

BOCU

Borough Operational Command Unit

CPS

Crown Prosecution Service

CPUs

Case Progression Units

DoI

Directorate of Information

IPT

Integrated Prosecution Team

MPA

Metropolitan Police Authority

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

PSD

Property Services Directorate

C. Legal implications

The pilots have been initiated under ‘licence to occupy’ arrangements. ‘Letters of comfort’ have been produced. Should the initiative be rolled out to further sites it is intended that there will be contracted out leases under the Landlord and Tenant Act. No commitments to the CPS will be made regarding full roll-out until business case is approved.

D. Race and equality impact

None anticipated. However a full impact assessment will be conducted on the pilots as part of the evaluation.

E. Financial implications

1. Tables 1 to 3 demonstrate the costs incurred by the MPS in implementing the IPT at the three pilot sites. These costs are broken down into separate Operational Borough Command Units (BOCU) costs.

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

2. The total cost to the CPS for implementing the pilot sites was £97,026. This cost comprises of new furniture, design of layout and delivery and installation of furniture.

3. Logistical difficulties with CPS contractors due to the tight implementation timescales for the three pilot sites meant the MPS met some costs which the CPS will meet in any future roll out programme. These costs relate to redecoration and telephony and amounts to approx £37,859 of the overall MPS cost.

4. Significant savings are anticipated from the implementation of the IPT project (£2m has already been reflected in the Territorial Policing budget for 2007/08). It is anticipated that further comparable savings will be demonstrated for the financial year 2008/09.

5. These savings have been calculated by conducting workload analysis across the BOCUs identifying appropriate staffing levels in the Case Progression Units and the Post-Prosecution Teams in comparison to the demand on each Borough. In addition process mapping exercises were undertaken to evidence the duplication of effort and inefficiencies of process between the MPS and CPS in post charge remedial work. This resulted in agreement of exchange of activities from MPS to CPS, reducing the remedial work required to be undertaken by the MPS.

6. This report does not detail these savings; they will be set out in full in a business case once the pilot sites have been evaluated.

F. Background papers

None

G. Contact details

Report author: , MPA.

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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