CPS Board meeting minutes - June 2023

13 June 2023, 14:00-16:30, CPS Boardroom/Microsoft Teams

Members

Monica Burch (Chair), Max Hill KC, Mark Hammond, Kathryn Stone, Simon Jeffreys, Dr Subo Shanmuganathan, Greg McGill, Dawn Brodrick

Guests

Steve Buckingham (attending all items), Tristan Bradshaw (attending item 4), Mike Baker (attending item 5), Sandra McKay (attending item 6), Natalie Corney (attending item 6), Isabel Field (attending item 6), Moi Ali (attending item 7), Harvey Palmer (attending item 7)

Secretariat

Max Looker

Apologies

N/A

Item 1: Declaration of any conflicts

1.1    Simon Jeffreys raised his new appointment as a Non-Executive at Post Office Ltd.

1.2    No further changes to declarations of interest were raised.

Item 2: Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising

2.1    The Board reviewed and agreed the minutes, noting that all actions were in hand.

Item 3: Update from the Lead Directors

3.1    Greg provided an update on:

a.    Charging Model:

• Additional forces were adopting the model during June.
• SLA averages were being met and there was general adherence to the model.

b.    CPSD:

• Performance issues had been identified.
• The interviews for a CCP failed to identify an appropriate candidate.
• The move to a new model to provide mitigation is being expedited.

c.    Area Performance:

• Some issues around culture and leadership had been identified in two Areas.
• Interventions were required from the DLS and CPOD.

3.2    Dawn provided an update on:

a) Pay uplift being processed for all CPS staff following additional funding from HMT.

b) Senior Leadership changes.

c) EG away day had been diarised to focus on accountabilities and CPS transition work.

d) Victims Programme Board met and was moving forward.

e) Recruitment remained high with 200 new starters in April and May and a further 83 due in June.

Item 4: Q4 Performance

4.1    The Board welcomed Tristan Bradshaw to the meeting.  Tristan provided an update on the Q4 performance data, focusing on the following key points:

• CTLs had increased to 9,000.
• Pressure across CJS was being caused by prison capacity issues.
• MOJ had implemented operation safeguards and stood up the Strategic Operational Command.
• Performance was being impacted by more issues than recovery.
• Area performance was being impacted by local rather than national issues.
• GMP continued to push for high volumes of charges, with similar issues slowly creeping into other Areas.
• Resourcing calculations were being reviewed to manage the changes.

4.2    The Board queried whether the performance variations were simply a data issue or if leadership was a contributory factor. Tristan and Greg confirmed that those Areas with strong leadership were more adept at driving change and that improvement plans were in place for the other Areas.

4.3    The Board also asked what assurances there were that improvements were being made across all Areas.   It was confirmed that the APR process and the Continuous Improvement Team drove change across the organisation but each Area had specific challenges which made it difficult to approach things with a “one size fits all” approach.

4.4    Greg confirmed that the APR process had changed in recent years with a separate focus on Casework and Performance. There was a need for the process to be reviewed to ensure it included some of rigour from the previous process while retaining the efficiencies that were being realised.

4.5    The Board also asked about qualitative measures and Tristan confirmed that these measures existed in terms of casework quality and in relation to victims’ communications.

4.6    The Board queried tolerance levels, suggesting that some granularity was required in the presentations to provide indicators for natural variations and when the non-Execs should start to worry. In particular, the Board asked for target, how far away performance was from the target, what mitigations were in place and when these would start to see results.

4.7    The Board also suggested that the data was showing an increase in Adult and all Rape figures and an increase in victims’ attrition and were assured that the CPS works with Agencies to ensure they are aware of the increase in cases and the need to support more victims.

4.8    The DPP welcomed the scrutiny and confirmed that the CPS was on the right trajectory, exceeding Parliamentary ambitions during the quarter.

Item 5: Estates Strategy

5.1    The Board welcomed Steve Buckingham and Mike Baker.  They provided an update on the following key points:

• The Estate Strategy was in development.
• The GPA was being challenged to provide more information to enable medium term planning.
• The Estates Strategy would reshape the way the CPS worked in the future.

5.2    The Board queried the reasons behind an increase in staff working in offices and it was agreed, from anecdotal evidence, that there was a desire amongst teams to move back to office working and that the increase was as a result of the application of the Hybrid-Working policy.

5.3    Board members welcomed the approach, suggesting it was a good step forward, but that the Executive should be mindful about the difficulties in developing an Estates strategy when more people were coming into the office.

5.4    The DPP asked for assurances that the GPA could improve their offer.  Steve and Mike were confident that things could improve following relationship building with the GPA.

Item 6: National & Regional Communications Strategy

6.1    The Board welcomed Sandra McKay, Natalie Corney and Isabel Field to the meeting. Sandra provided an update on the Strategy with the key points including:

• Public polling had helped to identify success measures.
• Effort had been made to significantly increase the understanding of the CPS.
• There had a been a notable shift in content across the RASSO campaign, with a more positive focus.
• Large growth in Social Media use.
• Restructuring of regional support with greater collaboration with Areas.

6.2    The Board welcomed the improvements in communications and were impressed by the revised approach taken but asked what was being done in relation to joint working with the Police. Sandra confirmed that there was a lot of work ongoing but much more to do to repair public perception.

6.3    The Board also suggested that they be sighted on the polling work so that they could track progress.

6.4    The Chair thanked Sandra for the work she had done over the years to improve the internal and external communications and wished her well for the future.

Item 7: IAC reporting

7.1    The Board welcomed Moi Ali and Harvey Palmer to the meeting.  Moi provided an overview of the IAC Annual Report, highlighting the following key considerations:

• The majority of the complaints related to service errors rather than legal decisions.
• Consolidatory payments process has been subject to continued consideration between the IAC and CPS.
• Feedback policy was not being applied as it should.
• There had been a dip in the number of complaints received.

7.2    The Board suggested that further analysis was required to highlight thematic issues and that there for future reports it would be useful to review the recommendation plan to enable the Board to provide more challenge to the Executive on the appropriateness of the actions being implemented.

7.3    The Board also requested that the complaints data be considered alongside equalities and diversity data for future iterations. The board thanked Moi and her team for the report.

Item 8: ARAC update

8.1    Simon Jeffreys, Chair of the ARAC, provided an update from the meeting that took place in April.

8.2    It was confirmed that the NAO were largely positive about the end of year audit and that the Annual Report and Accounts would be presented to the ARAC for consideration before being passed to the Board and DPP for sign off.

8.3    Simon suggested that a sub-committee be arranged to process the sign off efficiently.

Item 9: AOB

9.1    It was confirmed that Doug Wilson, Director General of AGO, will be attending the July meeting.

9.2    The DPP extended his thanks to Mark Hammond on his last CPS Board meeting.

9.3    The Chair also thanked Mark on behalf of the Board for his contributions during his tenure.

Meeting closed.

Secretariat – Max Looker

June 2023