CPS Mersey-Cheshire Buisness Plan 2013/14 - Crown Prosecution ...

Mersey-Cheshire
Business Plan
2013-14
1/11

CPS Mersey – Cheshire Business Plan 2013-14
Chief Crown Prosecutor introduction
We are pleased to present the CPS Mersey-Cheshire Area Business Plan for 2013-14.
This Plan sets out the key areas of work that we will all focus on during the course of the year. It is aligned to the recently published CPS
National Business Plan and it fits in with the National Refocusing Agenda too.
Last year, we substantially progressed the digital agenda, and we are already well on the way to implementing the standard ways of
working and procedures required of us under Refocusing. There has been a lot of hard work and commitment shown during these times of
change and financial challenge.
Through the continued dedication and hard work of everyone, the Area is in a good place to build on the improvements that we have
already made. Please take some time to read the Plan and discuss it in your team meetings. It is a living document and we are happy to
receive comments and suggestions!
Claire Lindley
Chief Crown Prosecutor
Angela Walsh
Area Business Manager

Our Values
Our mission is to deliver justice through the independent and effective prosecution of crime, fostering a culture of
excellence by supporting and inspiring each other to be the best we can.
We are values-driven and for us this means:
We will be independent and fair
We will prosecute independently, without bias and will seek to deliver justice in every case.
We will be honest and open
We will explain our decisions, set clear standards about the service the public can expect from us and be honest if we make a mistake.
We will treat everyone with respect
We will respect each other, our colleagues and the public we serve, recognising that there are people behind every case.
We will behave professionally and strive for excellence
We will work as one team, always seeking new and better ways to deliver the best possible service for the public. We will be efficient
and responsible with tax-payers’ money.

Our Vision
We have a vision for Mersey-Cheshire CPS, which applies throughout 2013-14 and beyond
• To create a single unified Area combining the individual strengths of Cheshire and Merseyside
• To engage with our people to generate a culture of pride where staff take responsibility, are motivated, well managed and feel
respected
• By fully embedding Core Quality Standards(CQS) and Monitoring, deliver consistent quality performance
• Through continued assessment and training develop all our staff and maintain high standards of decision making, case preparation and
advocacy in all courts
• Work with the police and HMCTS to make the electronic file the master file and deliver full electronic working
• To achieve value for money and cost-effectiveness at every level through consistent quality decision making, efficient processes and
effective case management
• To become a centre of excellence for innovation in the service, continually striving to improve the way we work initiating development
when there are business benefits to be derived
• Continue to work with our partners to ensure the criminal justice system in Merseyside and Cheshire is effective, efficient, fair, consistent
and respected

Our Strategic Objectives
To support the CPS Vision and to enable us to focus our effort and activity on the right things, we aim to build on the significant steps made
last year to embed our strategic objectives:
• to inspire our People to meet the Vision – we will continue to embed our People Strategy, which promotes an inclusive culture of
engagement and development of best practice, recognising individual contributions and supporting the Service’s requirement for
integrity, fairness, equality and diversity;
• to provide a service of the highest Quality – we have a clear and published approach to quality of service in our Core Quality Standards
which set the standards which we seek to apply consistently and by which we are judged;
• to provide a streamlined and flexible service delivering greater Efficiency – we need to deliver a sustainable approach to efficiency in
order to reduce our resource costs and achieve improved productivity, based on a culture of continuous improvement. This will include
the standardising of operational practices; and
• to transform our business processes through Digitisation – by making the most of opportunities for offering a better service that takes
full advantage of the efficiencies provided by new and existing technology.
The environment in which we operate has changed significantly over the past year and this will continue in the coming year and beyond.
The central challenge for the Area continues to be ensuring the delivery of a quality service in a climate of reduced funding.
Our strategic objectives, taken together, provide a coherent and cohesive focus for us. Each objective is inherently interlinked with the
others.
Maximising the capability of our people and building capacity are key to improving quality and embedding and delivering new ways of
working including digitisation and supporting the delivery of wider criminal justice system efficiency.
We do not work alone and we appreciate that our strategic objectives need to be aligned and consistent with the approaches our partners
are taking to manage the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system as a whole. For example, digitisation will benefit
everyone by improving efficiency and reducing costs, whilst making justice swift and sure, in line with the aims of wider criminal justice
reform.
Over the course of this Plan, we will use the four strategic objectives to drive our main planning outcomes and our approach to managing
performance and risk.

Our Resources
The SR10 settlement for the CPS represented a 25% real terms reduction in the net Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL) over
the four-year period to 2014-15.
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Budget 15,432,753 14,375,502 12,965,190 11,283,353 10,058,498
Changes to Allocation 0 0 -36,017 52,881 52,632
Adjusted Budget 15,432,753 14,375,502 12,929,173 11,336,234 10,111,130
Pros Costs Budget 4,836,970 3,511,828 4,214,856 3,896,100 3,572,800
In 2013-14, the Area will continue to reduce costs by working closely with CJS partners at a local levels to embed more cost effective ways
of delivering the service. Key to this is the rollout of digital working, the continuation of the early guilty plea scheme in the Crown Court and
a streamlined case administration process.
Managing our Performance
Area level performance objectives and measures are aligned with CPS strategic objectives. Area performance is reviewed monthly by the
Area Management Board.
During 2013-14 we will continue to work with the Core Quality Standards Framework which will now include a reveised basket of high
weighted measures and will encompass:
• the quality of the service we provide measured against our Core Quality Standards by the use of a Core Quality Standards Monitoring
process which is locally focused to address performance improvement;
• the monitoring of overall conviction rates in both the magistrates’ and Crown Courts as one of 10 high weighted measures;
• cracked and ineffective trials due to prosecution reasons as a key efficiency measure;
• action to deliver our People Strategy, which will support and equip our staff for the future and lead to improvements in staff engagement.
Finally, to comply with our public sector equality duty, we will report on the representation of our workforce and the impact of our workforce
and the impact of our Employment and Prosecution policies on Protected Groups as defined by The Equality Act of 2010.

Progress Overview – What we achieved in 2012-2013
People
We launched a legal trainee scheme to support staff in the Area who wish to pursue a career in the law
All our managers have undertaken a Management development programme to increase their skills
Quality
We continue to work with the Local Scrutiny Involvement Panel and review Domestic Violence and Hate Crime cases
We continue with our regime of Core Quality Standard Review across all our casework
We continued to assess our advocates in the Magistrates and the Crown Court
Efficiency
We identified the resources required to deliver our business and have undertaken an exercise to release staff
We have worked with CJS partners and community representatives to improve our performance in Domestic Violence and Hate Crime cases.
We have introduced the Early Guilty plea process and the abolition of committals across both counties
We have implemented changes to our management structure to support efficiency savings
Digital
Working
We have worked with the courts and police to ensure we have a digital process in the Magistrates court
We continue to work with the Crown Court to identify processes that can become digital in the short term

Outlook Overview – What we plan to achieve in 2013-2014
People
We will continue to work with managers and staff to improve the Area employee engagement index score
We will work with our people to enable them to reach their full potential and identify and progress talented people
Quality
By June 2013 we will have introduced the Victims Right to review alongside a new Complaints and Feedback policy
We will continue to work with the Local Scrutiny Panel to identify local community priorities
We will work with managers and staff to introduce a new performance management regime
Efficiency We will fully implement the changes set out in our Area Refocus document
In line with the refocus agenda we will work to support the creation of standard operating practices in the Crown Court
We will ensure that we fully implement standard operating practices for every aspect of our front line delivery in the Magistrates court
We will implement the Area Advocacy Strategy
Digital
Working
We will continue to work with colleagues to implement Standard Operating Practices in the Magistrates court to ensure full digital working by
September 2013
We will continue to work with colleagues to finalise standard Operating Practices in the Crown Court with a view to working digitally in the office
by March 2014
We will ensure all staff are trained on the use of CMS
We will ensure that all advocates are trained to utilise tablet devices
We will introduce the new evidence management system for our largest and most sensitive cases

Area Risks
The Area Risk Register is aligned with the four strategic objectives of the CPS. The risks reflect the consequences of a significant reduction in resources
across the criminal justice system over the current Spending Review period, and identify how we should engage with our criminal justice partners to face these
challenges. The Area Board is responsible for ensuring that there are appropriate risk management arrangements in place and that corporate risks are properly
managed. The Area Management Board undertakes regular and detailed oversight of the risk management capability and the management of key corporate
risks. All corporate risk owners are Senior Area Managers
Strategic Objective
Corporate Risk
People • People Strategy
Quality • Custody Time Limits
Managers do not fully embrace and embedded the strategy and this leads to poor engagement, reduction in
staff morale and impacts on Area performance
Failure to proactively manage and deal with cases subject to CTLs with due diligence will lead to CTL failures
Efficiency • Resourcing Issues
Digital Working • Electronic Working
Failure to correctly identify the Area staff resource requirements and the delivery of the Area Advocacy strategy
will lead to the Area not being able to deliver within the financial settlement.
We do not transform our business practices and make resource savings by failing to embed and exploit digital
working in all our units and in discussions with CJS partners