CPS Board meeting minutes - May 2024

13 May, 2024, 14:00-17:00pm, Petty France and via MS Teams

Members

Monica Burch (Chair) (Lead Non-Executive Board Member), Stephen Parkinson (DPP), Simon Jeffreys (NEBM), Subo Shanmuganathan (NEBM), Kathryn Stone (NEBM)

Guests

Steve Buckingham (CFO), Grace Ononiwu (Director of Legal Services), Martin Goldman (Chief Crown Prosecutor), Matthew Cain (Interim CDIO), Graham Ritchie (Deputy Director of Policy & Strategy), Harvey Palmer (Principal Private Secretary), Louise Gray (SB Chair)

Secretariat

Max Looker, Stephanie Bradshaw

Apologies

None

Item 1: Declaration of any conflicts

1.1 The Chair welcomed Louise Gray, as the Chair of the Shadow Board.

1.2 No additional conflicts of interest were raised.

Item 2: Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising

2.1 The Board reviewed and agreed the minutes.

2.2 The Board noted open actions were on track to be completed with some being discussed during the meeting.

Item 3: Update from the DPP

3.1 The DPP provided an update on the following key points:

• Justice Select Committee attendance was arranged for 4th June, with preparations underway. It was intended that the DPP meet with Bob Neil during the week and that the Board could take assurance that there was good communication with the clerks to enable thorough preparations.
• Updated Domestic Abuse guidance had been published.
• Concerns around misinformation/attacks on politicians, especially as we head into an election period.

3.2 The Board welcomed the view of operational independence as this was critical in the process of providing the public with the confidence that the CPS was operating appropriately.

Item 4: Crown Advocacy

4.1 Grace and Martin joined the meeting and provided an update on the Crown Advocacy strategy, highlighting the following key points:

• Note the decision of EG to approve the introduction of a new advocacy career route for CPS staff.
• The challenges that existed in securing advocates to cover cases in crown courts.
• The inability of the Bar to respond to current circumstances, due to capacity issues.
• DPP providing clarity and accountability for service standards has resulted in a focus on expanding capability to allow the CPS to have ownership of the expected results.
• Intention to create CA1 roles within the CPS for individuals who have the ambition to be King’s Counsel.
• Challenges remain around recruitment, retention and the financial impacts.
• New approach can help ensure greater diversity in the courts.

4.2 The Board welcomed the approach and the clarity with which the intended outcome had been communicated. Lou Grey, Chair of the Shadow Board, commented that in the past the CPS had failed to attract people at this level to the service.  The Shadow Board had suggested that a mix of local and national level recruitment be explored.

4.3 The Board queried the financial impact of the model, as the paper suggested that it would basically break even. Grace confirmed that further work was required with the Chief Finance Officer to work out the details but that it was important to consider the changing landscape of the criminal justice system and the need for the CPS to adapt with it.

4.4 It was also suggested that the economic options needed to be clarified as such strategic decisions need to be taken with all the options available. The Board wanted assurance that the greatest impact would be from the intended operational changes. Grace confirmed that retention was the objective and that this would result in the greater system benefits.

4.5 Martin confirmed that there would now be a much stronger programme management approach in place with scrutiny and assurance being provided to the Portfolio Oversight Group.

4.6 The Board also queried the link between this work and the overarching CPS workforce plan, and it was agreed that the next steps would include a business case which will go through the governance structure.

4.7 The Shadow Board confirmed their support of the strategy and welcomed the promotion opportunities for CPS staff as there had been a gap in the career pathway for senior prosecutors to KC.

Item 5: IT Strategy – Update

5.1 Matthew Cain joined the meeting and provided an update on the IT strategic discussions taking place with the Executive.

5.2 Matthew confirmed that there were four key points to raise:

• Adjusting budgets to the new norm.
• EG workshop took place to discuss the IT strategy.
• Continuous Improvement Programme.
• Work completed to date to potentially save 300k hours of staff time.

5.3 There was a need to update the technology but a greater need to impact organisational change, with the latter being the more complex. The CPS is taking responsibility for its systems to ensure we are able to work alongside the rest of the Criminal Justice System and to deliver efficiencies across the CPS and over the next 12 -18 months there will continue to be a range of incremental improvements to the process to replace CMS.

5.4 Lou noted that the Shadow Board found the presentation really interesting with the main comments being to ensure that accessibility is built into the programme early on and that there was an appreciation of the length of the programme and the level of uncertainty across the system.

5.5 The Board commented that it was very much what it was expecting and welcomed the approach to painting the landscape. However there needed to be an indication of milestones and the ability of the Board to track progress. It was also noted that it would be useful to understand the picture in other Departments and an indication of what good looked like.

5.6 Matthew confirmed that the CPS is focused on improvements including from a commercial perspective and that there was now a greater understanding that there can be quicker wins for those parts of the system that don’t rely on CMS.

5.7 The Board also suggested a refresh of the Digital Strategy and it was confirmed that the refresh will coincide with the development of the CPS 2030 Strategy as there are key links between both.

5.8 The Board also queried the extent to which a thorough risk analysis of this area had been considered. Matthew confirmed that digital formed part of the CPS strategic risk register but was neither out of tolerance nor scored high enough to warrant an ARAC deep-dive. Despite this, ARAC would consider an item on delivery in the future while the Board would continue to focus on the strategy.

Item 6: Disproportionality – Verbal Update

6.1 Graham Ritchie joined the meeting and provided an update on the Disproportionality work. The CPS was working through the research performed by Leeds university.

6.2 The research had now concluded, and findings were begin examined across the following three key areas:

• Suspect characteristics,
• Presentation of information, and
• Work force in practice.

6.3 The working group has set out the strategic framework and action plan and has had discussions about these key areas. A national action plan is being developed to enable each Area to advance with plans and will be most effectively delivered at a local level.

6.4 Graham noted the workshop with Neil Basu who spoke about the challenges of moving an organisation to one that is anti-racist and the need for the leadership to role model those behaviours.  It is intended that EG will consider the action plan in June and the CPS is on track to publish in autumn.

6.5 The Board asked about the impact of the action plan and the need to be able to measure the effectiveness of any agreed interventions. Graham confirmed that there won’t be KPIs to track performance but there can be some in place for specific actions.

6.6 The DPP confirmed his view that we need a national plan and focus and wants to utilise AI to filter the red flags around the language and has so much more potential than the subjective ways of working.

6.7 The Shadow Board commented that it was important to get the comms right and Graham confirmed that they are working very closely with corporate comms.

6.8 The Board were keen that the substance of this work comes back to the Board for update and advice as it develops. The substance is clearly the most import, but particularly internally, comms needs to be thought through and the Board would also like to see the draft comms plan once formulated.

Item 7: Hybrid Working

7.1 Lou Gray was excused for this item.

7.2 Dawn Brodrick joined meeting and provided an update on progress with negotiations with the Trade Unions.

7.3 Dawn confirmed that negotiations are ongoing but that there remains some disagreement around the wording in the policy. This was a frustration as the CPS was not an outlier with other departments.

7.4 The DPP noted that we have been very careful in the use of our language on expectations for staff going forward but there remain some issues and we are working towards a resolution.

Item 8: Senior Leadership Model

8.1 Steve and Lou were excused for this item.

8.2 Dawn confirmed that the CPS was at the longlist stage of the DG COO role, and  would be working towards shortlisting in due course.

8.3 The DPP noted that the appointment of Nick Price to interim DLS for twelve months would ensure there was a split in responsibilities and that there is a structure in place that we could cope with in the short-term and readvertise the DG Legal Delivery post at some point in the future.

8.4 The Board suggested presenting the role as an opportunity to be the DPP’s successor and that looking further afield may provide good options.

8.5 The Chair thanked Dawn, on behalf of the Board, for all her work to transform the People Function and wished her well for the future.

Item 9: Independent Assessor of Complaints Role

9.1 Lou and Steve rejoined the meeting.

9.2 Harvey Palmer joined the meeting and confirmed that the current IAC will leave the role in November.   It was therefore recommended that the Board agree that the CPS continues to use an IAC and that recruitment of a suitable replacement is progressed.

9.3 The Board confirmed their approval of the role adding that it had been a success, and it was critical to have an independent stage in the complaints process.  It was also confirmed that the IAC role should continue to report to the Board through an assigned Non-Exec to ensure that level of independence whenever there were executive level issues. It would also be helpful for the IAC to have an executive member for help and assistance.

9.4 The Board asked for an updated version of the terms of reference for the role and it was agreed there were some changes that needed to be made.

Item 10: ARAC & RemCom updates

10.1 Simon provided an update on the recent ARAC meeting.

• NAO reporting back and too early on this years audit.
• GIAA HMCPSI – relatively positive report.
• Steve reported on internal audit and further actions.
• Annual report & accounts timeline was agreed.
• Cross criminal justice risks reporting to CJAG.
• Gifts and hospitality, Whistleblowing update, number had risen but assurance was provided that the process is working well.
• Adrian Foster provided a very good update on the role of the POC.

10.2 Kathryn provided an update on the recent RemCom meeting.

• Senior structure delivery plan was considered.
• Individual remuneration cases were agreed.
• Presentation on bullying and harassment and strategies for people to speak out and address issues.  

Item 11: AOB

11.1 No items of AOB were raised.

BTL

The Board agreed the CPS Board COI Protocol and Steve confirmed that there was an ongoing GIAA audit of this and gifts and hospitality nearing completion.
            
Meeting closed.

Secretariat – Max Looker & Stephanie Bradshaw

May 2024