Criminal Justice update

Report: 4
Date: 11 December 2003
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on the work being carried out by the Department of Criminal Justice with the ultimate aim of bringing more offences to justice.

A. Recommendations

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

Justice for London

1. The Justice for London (JFL) model has now been introduced in Lambeth and Southwark and is currently being implemented in Newham, Brent and Lewisham. It is due to be rolled out in Hackney and Tower Hamlets before Christmas.

2. In order to assist with the evaluation of this scheme, the MPS’s Internal Consultancy Group (ICG) have developed a number of performance indicators, details of which are set out at Appendix 1.

3. The data will be collected via spreadsheets, which CPU staff will need to complete and submit on a monthly basis. This data collection exercise has only just commenced and an accurate picture of the impact JfL is having will become available early in the New Year.

Victim and witness care

4. With specific reference to the Victim and Witness Focus Desks anecdotal feedback from witnesses has been extremely positive. In a number of cases, witness have told Victim and Witness Desk staff and the officers in their case that without the level of support they had, they would not have felt able to attend court. At Lambeth and Southwark this is reflected in a slight decrease in the number of cracked trials due to private witness non-attendance from a high of 21 in June 2003 to 16 in October 2003.

5. Up until now the rollout approach for both elements of the JfL has been staged at one borough at a time. In order to accelerate this process, from January the rollout will take place at a number of boroughs simultaneously, with training taking place at a central location. This approach should result in the completion of the rollout by Summer 2004.

CPS Lawyers at the point of charge

6. The rollout of CPS lawyers to the point of charge is continuing and the rollout schedule is attached for information at Appendix 2. The CPS has been provided with extra funding to recruit additional lawyers and this process is ongoing. Some difficulties are being experienced in relation to backfilling lawyers already in place during periods of sickness and annual leave but the MPS and CPS are actively engaged in a debate around this issue with a view to minimising potential disruption to the service to boroughs.

CPS Direct

7. In London CPS Direct is being piloted in Southwark and Lambeth and CPS personnel have responsibility for producing management information regarding take-up rates. Initial indications are that the take-up rate has been quite low and although in the first 4 weeks advice was given on 232 occasions, the MPS’ use of the scheme is still lower than that in the other two pilot sites of West Yorkshire and Humberside. Improved marketing of the scheme and a developing understanding by both MPS and CPS staff as to what is required will impact on the take up rate and advice is being sought in a number of serious and high profile cases. There is a concern within the CPS that the advice provided is of a varying standard and there have been occasions when a decision to charge has been overturned by a more senior lawyer. The data collection exercise will reveal the extent of the problem.

Holborn Glidewell

8. The approach to Criminal Justice in London over the past year has focused on the delivery of improved case files during the investigation. This is being achieved across London through the implementation of case progression units and CPS lawyers at the point of charge.

9. The Holborn Glidewell deals with post charge administration with co-located administration units from both the MPS and CPS London covering the boroughs of Camden and Islington. The original plan was to move to a single case file system as part of the project. This requires a considerable change in business processes.

10. As part of the joint working between the MPS and CPS the next piece of work will involve business process re-modelling post charge. This work will take account of the three co-located sites in London at Holborn, Barnet and Enfield and the impact, which the imminent roll out of NSPIS Case and Custody will have. NSPIS delivery was not planned to start until 2005 when the Holborn Glidewell was being planned and has now been brought forward.

11. This approach will then build on the forthcoming Department of Constitutional Affairs effective trial management programme. The combined effect within the criminal justice system should therefore be:

• An improvement in the preparation of cases.
• An effective case administration process.
• A trial management process, which ensures that cases come to court when they are trial ready.

Joint performance meetings

12. The second round of joint performance meeting has now commenced and a full schedule comprising every borough has been drawn up. The first meeting was held on 14 October and was attended by representatives from the GLMCA.

13. This addition to the meeting is already proving beneficial, as we are able to examine issues from the time of arrest to final outcome in court. Difficult areas are identified and can be taken back to the relevant organisation at a senior level for a solution to be developed. The second round of these meeting will be completed in March 2004.

Performance

Discontinued cases

14. There is a delay in obtaining data on this issue as the CPS is currently changing to a new computer system. New data should be available by late November.

Discharge committals

15. There continues to be a significant reduction in the number of discharge committals. In August there were 109 compared with 136 in July 2003 and 198 in June 2003.

Cracked and ineffective trials

16. The LCJB target for 2003/04 is to reduce the number of cracked and ineffective trials through prosecution failures to 10%. The current figure stands at 25.7% for both Crown and Magistrates Courts. For ineffective trials the figure stands at 12.2%. This is a cross agency target involving the police, CPS and courts.

Persistent Young Offenders

17. The PYO target relates the timeliness through the criminal justice system from arrest to sentencing. The target is that this should be achieved in 71 days or less. This is a cross agency target involving the police, CPS and courts.

18. Success against the target depends on the combined effort of the police, CPS and the Courts and remains elusive in London. In both February and June 2003 initial figures suggested that it had been reached but once adjusted by PA Consulting the figure went above the 71-day mark.

19. The table below shows, an improvement against the previous months reversal. During the last six months (February to August 2003 an average of 65% of London’s PYO cases were completed within 71 days.

Chart 1 – Average arrests to sentence (see supporting material)

Warrants

20. The introduction of the new grading system for warrants has resulted in an emphasis on tackling warrants relating to the following areas:

• Serious arrestable offences – as defined by Section 116(2) PACE
• MPS defined prominent and development nominals
• Persistent offenders as defined in the Government’s Narrowing the Justice Gap initiative
• MPS defined hate crime
• Warrants relating to burglary, street crime or registered sex offenders

21. This approach has been successful in reducing the number of Grade A warrants by 33% to date.

22. There has been a small percentage reduction in the number of outstanding warrants since the beginning of the performance year

London Criminal Justice Board

23. A London Criminal Justice Board was held on 13 November 2003. The Board received a presentation on restorative justice and were in agreement that this approach is advantageous. The Board is now seeking to develop the best way forward in this area. The Board also expressed its support for the Effective Trial Management Programme being pursued by the Department of Constitutional Affairs. In addition to these items, the Board also received an update on performance against the PYO target and a presentation from the chairs of the Bromley and Hounslow Borough Criminal Justice Boards.

24. The Board is also exploring a number of options regarding consultation with communities and other criminal justice stakeholders. It is anticipated that this will be presented at the next London Criminal Justice Board.

Police non-attendance at court

25. Any occasion where a case is lost at court because a police officer failed to attend is clearly a matter of concern and one that the MPS will take serious steps to address. In August, 120 cracked trials were shown as due to police non-attendance. This figure has now been more closely examined. The MPS contacted the GLMCA to obtain Magistrates’ Court data for the top six CPS areas affected by this issue. From the data supplied 41 officers from 14 borough commands were identified as not attending court. Boroughs were required to provide an explanation in each case and the examination revealed the following:

Table 1 – Police non-attendance at court

26. This issue is being tackled in the following way:

• The courts through the London Criminal Justice Board recognise that in some cases the data collection is poor and the Chief Officers for both the Magistrates and Crown Court are driving this issue.
• This is a performance agenda item at the monthly Criminal Justice Managers meeting and the joint agency performance meetings.
• The Victim and Witness Focus Desks as they roll out are responsible for the dates to avoid and the warning of all witnesses, including police officers. This will ensure that the court is able to set trial dates based on accurate data regarding witness availability.
• The CPS is encouraging use of the secure e-mail within their units to ensure we receive accurate data regarding trial dates.
• Those officers who fail to attend court without sufficient explanation will be subject to discipline procedures.

27. The October figures show a reduction on the August figure from 120 to 94 (105 in September).

NSPIS Custody and case preparation

28. Work to prepare the MPS for the introduction of NSPIS Case and Custody continues and Newham has now been selected as the pilot site.

Ministerial meeting

29. A ministerial meeting was held on 17 October 2003 where a wide range of criminal justice issues were discussed including the correlation between officer numbers within Territorial Policing and the number of offences brought to justice (chart attached at Appendix C). The number of CPS lawyers in London and the impact on offences brought to justice together with Narrowing the Justice Gap issues.

Centralised Traffic Unit

30. The work to centralise the traffic process function is continuing as part of the TfL portfolio. The rollout programme and timescale have now been agreed as follows:

The Central Traffic Unit will deal with new cases only and any action required on previous cases will continue to be dealt with by the relevant BOCU.

C. Equality and diversity implications

This is an update report and therefore there are no new equality or diversity implications at this time.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications contained in this paper.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author: Commander Brian Moore, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

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