## Cps 2020 And 2016/17 Plan

Delivering justice

## Cps 2020 Delivering Justice

Our duty is to prosecute the right people for the right offences. The CPS works with our partners at the heart of the criminal justice system to protect the public and create a safe society. We will be independent and fair and will deliver justice in every case, acting professionally and striving for excellence. We will treat people with respect and will be honest and open about our work. 

## The Story So Far Savings And Efficiencies Delivered After Significant Cuts An Ever Changing Caseload As We Adapt To An Evolving Crime Environment Steady Convictions Delivering Joined Up Justice Across Area Boundaries Guilty Pleas

remains steady at 96,000 - 

## Magistrates Cases Steady Conviction Rate, Rising Guilty Pleas And Streamlined Caseloads By Bringing The Right Cases And Working Better With Our Partners Delivering Justice Our Values

Our new strategic priorities reflect our commitment to being a flexible, trusted prosecution service. That commitment is underpinned by our existing values:

•	 Treat everyone with 
respect
•	 Be independent and fair •	 Be honest and open •	 Behave professionally 
and strive for excellence

## Public Confidence Delivering Justice By Ensuring Public Confidence That We Are Fair, Effective And Independent

Our decisions will be open and transparent, and the public will trust that we are fair and deliver justice. We will: 

•	 Positively influence the criminal justice landscape 
and deliver justice with our partners. 
•	 Provide a professional service to everyone we 
work with. 
•	 Treat victims and witnesses with respect and 
care, and respond to their individual needs.  
•	 Be open, listen, explain our decisions and learn 
from our successes and our mistakes. 
•	 Anticipate and adapt to new and emerging 
criminal trends.  
•	 Work with and learn from communities to build 
confidence in the criminal justice system.  
•	 Create engaging campaigns that explain our 
work.  
•	 Develop effective policies and guidance that 
reflect changes in society. 
•	 Deal promptly and thoroughly with enquiries and 
complaints.

## Delivering Justice By Supporting The Success Of Our People

We will attract the best people and be recognised for our investment in staff, training and skills. We will:

•	 Behave according to our values, creating a 
culture of respect where it's safe to speak up. 
•	 Nurture and grow our talent, offering everyone a 
clear path for career development.  
•	 Empower leaders to foster a culture of learning 
where everyone takes responsibility for their own development, and progression is based on merit. 
•	 Broaden our expertise by supporting career 
moves in and out of the CPS, and between teams. 
•	 Equip our people with the skills to excel in a 
changing environment. 
•	 Support social mobility, and invest in 
apprenticeships, scholarships, legal and professional training.  
•	 Set high expectations for individual performance, 
and be clear how this is managed. 
•	 Develop a diverse workforce that reflects the 
society we serve.

## Success Of Our People High Quality Casework Delivering Justice With Everyone Contributing To High Quality Casework We Will Deliver Justice Through Excellent, Timely Legal Decision-Making, Casework Preparation And Presentation. We Will:

•	 Give early advice to investigators so that the 
right cases progress, or are quickly stopped. 
•	 Take the right decisions, treating every case fairly 
and equally, and bringing the correct charges according to the evidence and the Code for Crown Prosecutors. 
•	 Deliver swifter justice through timely case 
preparation, encouraging appropriate early guilty pleas. 
•	 Build and progress strong cases. 
•	 Provide first class advocacy in every case. •	 Build effective partnerships, nationally and 
internationally, to ensure excellence across the criminal justice system and to prevent harm to the UK.

## Delivering Justice By Continuously Improving How We Work

We will continue to digitise and modernise the way we work, supporting a flexible workforce and delivering swifter justice, fewer hearings and more effective trials. We will: 

•	 Look forward, identifying opportunities to reform 
and improve. 
•	 Work flexibly across geographic boundaries to 
drive up quality across the CPS. 
•	 Rapidly redeploy resources to respond to 
changing crime patterns.  
•	 Co-create a shared, digital system that works for 
all partners in the criminal justice system. 
•	 Design new ways of working informed by the 
expertise of our frontline staff.  
•	 Invest in our IT, giving people the tools they 
need to do their best, wherever they work. 
•	 Adapt business processes that support efficiency 
and cut bureaucracy.

## Continuously Improving The Public Has Confidence That The Cps Is Fair, Effective And Independent We Will:

•	 Treat victims and witnesses with respect and care and respond to 
their individual needs. 
•	 Enhance our complaints performance management systems to ensure 
they are dealt with promptly and thoroughly.  
•	 Identify and share best practice in domestic abuse prosecutions, 
including the new offence of controlling or coercive behaviour. 
•	 Develop capability of Witness Care Units to meet the planned 
Victim's Law and related reforms. 
•	 Improve the instance, quality and timeliness of letters issued to 
victims explaining our decision to stop a case or substantially alter charges. 
•	 Develop effective policies and guidance that reflect changes in 
society, such as  delivering against the cross-government hate crime strategy. 

## 2016/17 Plan

•	 Ensure that all RASSO cases are reviewed and presented in court by 
a specialist trained sexual offences prosecutor. 
•	 Create an engagement plan and resource hub of materials for 
schools, colleges and universities. 
•	 Develop more proactive campaigns like #ConsentIs. •	 Conduct stakeholder mapping to identify how best to measure 
confidence.

## Measured By:

witness issues of hate crime sentence uplifts recorded in finalised convictions
28 days for pre-charge advice or decision

## We Support The Success Of Our People We Will:

•	 Nurture and grow our talent, offering everyone a clear path for 
career development. 
•	 Broaden our expertise by supporting career moves in and out of the 
organisation. 
•	 Support social mobility by investing in apprenticeships, scholarships, 
legal and professional training. 
•	 Increase workforce flexibility and resilience by moving more work to 
where our people are located. 
•	 Improve the experience of working at the CPS through a continued 
focus on employee engagement and wellbeing.  
•	 Invest in the skills of our workforce and ensure effective evaluation of 
learning and development. 
•	 Set high expectations for individual performance and be clear how 
this is managed.

## 2016/17 Plan Measured By:

people managing out-of-Area cases supporting resource flexibility

## Everyone In The Cps Contributes To High Quality Casework We Will:

•	 Give early advice to investigators so that the right cases progress and 
others are quickly stopped. 
•	 Take the right decisions, treating every case fairly and equally, and 
bringing the correct charges according to the evidence and the Code for Crown Prosecutors. 
•	 Deliver swifter justice through timely case preparation that builds and 
progresses strong cases and encouraging appropriate early guilty pleas. 
•	 Build effective partnerships, nationally and internationally, to ensure 
excellence across the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and maximise the recovery of proceeds of crime. 
•	 Develop a new advocacy strategy to ensure our advocates are able 
to meet changing demands and that we provide first class advocacy in every case. 

## 2016/17 Plan

•	 Embed 'Better Case Management' to ensure fewer hearings in Crown 
Court cases and improved engagement from all parties. 
•	 Utilise the trends from Individual Quality Assessments to help better 
identify themes and inform how we can improve.

## Measured By:

due to prosecution reasons in 
hearings on average per guilty plea case in magistrates' courts

## We Will Continuously Improve The Way We Work We Will:

•	 Develop capability to respond to and meet challenges of HMCTS 
Court Reform programme.  
•	 Invest in technology, giving people the tools they need to do their 
best, wherever they work. 
•	 Explore alternative ways to deliver a better integrated charging 
service to police and other investigators. 
•	 The CJS Common Platform will have deployed its first applications to 
test cross-agency digital justice. 
•	 Develop an IT strategy to complement and support multi-agency 
initiatives. 
•	 Co-create a shared, digital system that works for all partners in the 
CJS. 

## 2016/17 Plan

•	 Design new ways of working informed by the expertise of our own 
people and develop  new ways to support this, such as People Impact Assessments and satisfaction surveys. 
•	 Employ tight financial management that ensures we make full and 
best use of available funding.

## Measured By: About The Crown Prosecution Service

The CPS is responsible for prosecuting most cases heard in the criminal courts in England and Wales. It is led by the Director of Public Prosecutions and acts independently on criminal cases investigated by the police and other agencies. The CPS is responsible for deciding the appropriate charge in more serious or complex cases and provides information, assistance and support to victims and witnesses.