Business plan 2024-25

I am pleased to publish the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) annual business plan for 2024-25.  This plan details our ambitious plans and objectives for delivering Law Officer priorities and our strategic aims over the next year.

Our Strategic Plan outlines our vision for the organisation that we want COPFS to be by 2027.  We have made progress in delivering improved outcomes in our casework and service delivery and tackling case backlog due to the impact of the pandemic.  There is, however, much more to do.  We must be ambitious in our aims to improve the service we provide and meet the challenges of a complex and changing criminal justice system.  We must continue to tackle the pandemic case backlog and to work with our partners to reform and improve the way the criminal justice system operates.  It is also essential for COPFS to meet expectations from the provision of additional resources and that we deliver, improve and innovate to deliver high-quality public services within available resources.

Key priorities for 2024-25 include improving:

• our engagement with victims, witnesses and next of kin;
• the way we investigate and prosecute cases of sexual offending and domestic abuse against women and girls;
• the way in which deaths are investigated and working to clear all legacy death investigations by the end of the financial year;
• the quality of our casework and prosecution decision making;
• how COPFS tackles human trafficking and deals with victims and potential victims of human trafficking.

Our business plan for 2024-25 will drive the essential delivery and transformation of our casework and service delivery in line with our key priorities.

We are committed to victims and witnesses being at the heart of what we do to deliver a trauma-informed service.  We will make improvements across all areas of our work to improve our support and communications with victims and witnesses.

We will reduce the age profile of our cases and improve how we manage cases from the start, including how we investigate deaths and keep next of kin and relatives informed of progress.  We will implement recommendations from the Lord Advocate’s instructed review on the prosecution of sexual offences and the HM Inspectorate of Prosecution recommendations on our work on summary domestic abuse cases.

We will maximise our use of digital technology to transform our services and business processes, using data analytics and management information to improve our productivity and use of resource to enhance performance management capabilities across all areas of the organisation.

Our people, organisation structure and governance arrangements are fundamental to our success.  Our business plan for 2024-25 therefore includes a programme to plan and implement changes to our organisational structure and governance and to improve our leadership and talent management.

Our strategic and business plans provide the framework for the organisation working together to deliver high quality casework, improving our service and supporting our people.  We will report on delivery progress through our governance mechanisms, including via the enhanced corporate structures we will put in place.

John Logue, Crown Agent and Chief Executive

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is the sole public prosecution authority in Scotland, prosecuting cases independently, robustly, fairly, and effectively in the public interest.  Our vision is for a professional, independent prosecution service and death investigation authority working in partnership across an effective justice system to deliver a high-quality public service.

To achieve this vision, we need to be inclusive, compassionate and engage with the public and our stakeholders.  We need our people to be skilled and we need to support them to consistently deliver excellence, committed to victims and witnesses being at the heart of what we do to deliver a trauma-informed service.

Our Strategic Plan is supported by annual business plans defining our objectives for delivering our strategic aims and Law Officer priorities.

COPFS continues to operate in a complex and changing criminal justice system.  The volume and complexity of our casework has changed and continues to grow.  Work will continue over 2024-25 to tackle case backlog due to the impact of the pandemic.  Sexual offences, increased death investigations, implementing new legislation and health and safety investigations present further complexity and increased casework demands for COPFS.

In challenging economic circumstances, COPFS received an increased budget allocation for 2024-25 to tackle the criminal case backlog in our courts; continue investigating Covid deaths; and meet our statutory obligations and the requirements of demand-led casework.  Public sector funding will continue to face challenges in years to come.  We must work on the assumption that our current budget and staff resources are unlikely to increase further with public sector organisations expected to deliver improved outcomes with less resource.

It is essential for COPFS to meet expectations from the provision of additional resources and that we deliver, improve and innovate the essential services we provide. COPFS is an essential part of the wider justice system in Scotland and we will continue to work closely with our partners and stakeholders to improve outcomes for victims across the justice system.

We made good progress in delivering improved outcomes in our casework and service delivery over the course of 2023-24.  There is, however, much more to be done and the COPFS Business Plan for 2024-25 sets out our plans and objectives for the next year.

Our purpose is to secure justice for the people of Scotland in respect of the investigation and prosecution of crime and the investigation of deaths. Our work helps to ensure that Scotland is safe from crime, disorder, and danger.

By investigating and prosecuting crime in terms of our Prosecution Code, we ensure that those responsible are identified and held accountable. By investigating deaths, we ensure that appropriate lessons are learned with a view to reducing the incidence of avoidable deaths. We act to uphold the rule of law independently, robustly, fairly, and effectively.

We achieve our purpose by:

• investigating and prosecuting crime, including allegations of criminal conduct against police officers;
• investigating deaths that need further explanation;
• removing financial gain achieved through criminal and unlawful conduct.

The public interest is at the heart of everything we do, and we promote it through the independence and rigour of our decision making, investigations and conduct of our cases in court.

We continue working towards an ambitious vision for COPFS:

• We act professionally, independently and in the public interest as Scotland’s prosecution service and death investigation authority;
• We work together across a transformed, effective and fair justice system to meet the needs of the public;
• We are inclusive, compassionate, and readily engage to support victims, witnesses and bereaved nearest relatives;
• We’re committed to victims and witnesses being at the heart of what we do and delivering a trauma-informed service;
• Our people are skilled and resilient, strive for continuous improvement and feel supported to consistently deliver excellence;
• We work innovatively and efficiently to maximise our resources and use of technology, data and management information to plan, deliver and monitor high-quality public services.

Our business plan identifies the priority areas where we will focus our improvement work over 2024-25.

Our transformation priorities for this year are embedded and build on the key activities outlined in our Strategic Plan for 2023-27:

• Improve the experiences of women and children within the justice system;
• Improve how we communicate with our customers and partners and the support we offer to the most vulnerable service users;
• Achieve quicker conclusions to criminal and death investigations.

We will deliver these transformation priorities against a backdrop of a challenging public sector funding landscape and from ongoing public sector reform and continuous improvement expectations.

The annual business plan for COPFS in 2024-25 reflects the overarching priorities set in the 2023-27 Strategic Plan as follows:

We will provide an excellent service that is designed to meet the diverse needs of the public we serve. As well as transforming the way we prosecute domestic abuse and sexual offending, we will continue to digitise and modernise the way we work, supporting recovery from case backlogs due to the pandemic and wider reform of the criminal justice system, securing efficient and effective justice, and putting the public at the heart of all we do.

We are working towards the following service delivery outcomes:

• Compassionate service with the needs of victims, witnesses and bereaved;
• Nearest relatives at its heart;
• Services that protect and support women and children;
• Responsive casework processes and technology and information systems and data driven capabilities.

We will secure justice through our professional decision-making, case preparation and presentation.  We will explain our decisions, be open about our work and conclude our investigations more quickly.

We are working towards the following casework outcomes:

• Independent, robust, fair, and effective professional decision making;
• Consistently excellent case preparation and presentation;
• Transparent and accountable decision making.

We will build a skilled, trauma-informed, and diverse workforce who are motivated, engaged, and healthy.  We will build an organisation structure and improve our resiliency and leadership that supports our people to deliver on the Law Officers’ priorities and our transformation plans.  We will create flexible, sustainable working environments which support our future business delivery model.  We will invest in staff development and management capabilities to strengthen our capacity to deliver an improved service.

Key delivery aims include:

• A skilled, capable, and healthy and engaged workforce who reflect the diversity of Scotland;
• Supportive and inclusive leaders who empower colleagues to make effective decisions;
• Strengthened leadership and management capacity and resilience, allowing us to deliver an improved service;
• Modern, fit-for-purpose and environmentally friendly workplaces to support business delivery and new ways of working.

We have identified the actions that we will take in 2024-25:

The Improving our Service Strategy: 2023-27 outlines our aims for providing a person-centred and trauma-informed service to the people of Scotland.  In 2024-25 we will initiate the Service Improvement Programme to deliver on these goals and to implement improved service delivery culture and practices.  We will set clear actions and leadership accountability for delivering strategically and aligning and embedding service improvement across all areas of work and improvement priorities.

The Victim Information and Advice (VIA) service supports victims who need extra support.  The first phase of the modernisation programme considered how to deliver an improved service through effective preparation and prosecution of casework, and communication.  Phase two of the programme, which will start in 2024-25, will consider the fundamental elements of the VIA service and devise changes needed to ensure it continues to meet the needs of victims, witnesses and next of kin.

COPFS continues its work towards providing a trauma informed service for all our service users.  In 2024-25 we will continue to implement the Scottish Government Trauma Informed Justice Knowledge and Skills Framework, with particular focus on improving our communications with victims, witnesses and next of kin.  Our continuous staff learning programmes will further support our strategically focussed trauma informed service delivery.

Our strategic and business plans outline our commitment to improving the experiences of women and children in justice.

The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child will come into force in Scotland in July 2024. We will support our staff to implement the requirements of the convention in their work.

In April 2024, HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland released a report on the prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level. We will work with our people and justice partners to implement the recommendations in the report by the end of 2024-25.  

In December 2021 the Lord Advocate commissioned a review of how prosecutors in Scotland deal with reports of sexual offences.  We expect the Sexual Offences Review Report in the early part of 2024-25. The report will make findings and recommendations to improve the way in which reports of sexual offences are dealt with and we will work to implement its recommendations as a priority.

In 2024-25 we will continue to make improvements to our death investigation processes and the service we provide to next of kin and families. We will reduce the age profile of death investigations, with focus on those where death occurred in 2020 or earlier, with focussed plans devised to clear all legacy death investigations by the end of the financial year.  We will improve our communications with next of kin, enhance the information available on our website, and support our staff to deliver an effective and trauma-informed service.

2024-25 will see the launch of several digital enabled services to improve the experience of victims, witnesses and services available to criminal justice partners, stakeholders and users.

We will pilot the Witness Gateway from spring 2024.  The Witness Gateway gives witnesses the option to use the online service to view their witness statement, confirm their availability for court, see court dates and to receive updates on their case.  The Witness Gateway will be launched nationally over 2024-25.

The Defence Agent Service (DAS) will also pilot in 2024 and give Defence Agents online access to case disclosure, information and facilities to engage with COPFS on their cases.  This service is closely aligned to the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC), which gives access to digital evidence like CCTV, and will begin national phased rollout from mid-2024.

We will implement a new COPFS information ‘hub’ to provide seamless access to corporate information and enhance decision making capabilities.  We will implement a COPFS records management system to modernise and improve our management of information.

We will carry out work over 2024 to explore the use of Artificial Intelligence technologies, underpinned by comprehensive use of data analytics, to innovate and enhance the way we work and transform caseworks services and business processes.

We will improve the quality of our casework, getting it right from the start of a case with enhanced processes to conclude cases more quickly, underpinned by improved communication with families and victims throughout the case journey.

We will consider each case from the outset for potential early resolution.  The Summary Case Management Pilot has proven successful to date in reducing case journey times and delivering better outcomes for victims.  The pilot, which started in three Sheriff Courts in September 2022, is demonstrating positive outcomes, including reductions in police witness citations; cases resolving without trial at an earlier stage; and faster outcomes achieved in cases which go to trial.  These reform outcomes are delivering efficiency savings for the courts, police and prosecutors, whilst also minimising trauma for victims and witnesses.  We will work with justice partners to roll the pilot out nationally over 2024-25.

In 2024-25 we will:

• Implement all recommendations in the HM Inspectorate of Prosecution report on our work on summary domestic abuse cases, making improvements to case preparation and keeping victims informed and addressing their individual needs; 
• Work with justice partners to ensure cases are reported with quality Standard Prosecution Reports and victim strategy documents as required;
• Identify High Court cases at the earliest possible stage;
• Aim to increase the level of s76 pleas focusing on maintaining victim engagement, securing early disclosure and pro-active communication with the defence;

• Work with external partners to obtain forensic and cyber evidence at a much earlier date.

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to be felt in our casework.  In 2024-25 we will continue to focus significant resource to reducing this caseload. We anticipate the Covid extended time bar will be removed by November 2025 but may be sooner.  To prepare for this change, we will increase the number of cases being reported and indicted in Sheriff and Jury and High Courts and continue working with Scottish Government and justice partners to plan casework in line with confirmed legislative timeframes.

In 2024-25 we will engage with the United Kingdom and Scottish Parliament’s consideration of relevant legislation and respond to legislative change.  We will further contribute to the development of the proposed Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, engage with Scottish Government regarding the ongoing operation of the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform (Scotland) Act) 2022 and contribute to the development and impact assessment of the proposed Children’s (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill, and the Human Rights Bill.  We will continue working with Scottish Government on change and resource implications for implementing new or amended legislation.

In 2024-25 we will publish our People Strategy: 2024 – 2027.  Our People Strategy will drive improved outcomes in the confidence, capacity and competence of our staff and embed a culture of high-quality and continuous improvement in our workplace.  The strategy will support our future organisational structure, leadership, management, succession planning and business delivery as we work together to deliver improved service outcomes and ways of working.

In 2023, the Crown Agent commissioned a review of our senior leadership structure, governance and succession planning arrangements.  In 2024-25 we will initiate the ‘Designed for Success’ programme and make significant progress on implementing the review recommendations.

Supported by a clear educational philosophy and evaluation framework, through our Scottish Prosecution College, we will support our people on their learning journeys, to thrive in current roles and into other roles whether those be within COPFS, other parts of the justice system, or beyond.  This will include particular focus on supporting trauma informed practice and supporting our people to deliver the improvement and transformation actions in our business plans.

We are committed to providing a healthy working environment that promotes and protects the physical and mental wellbeing of our employees.  In 2024-25 we will review the Vicarious Trauma Support Service to ensure it meets the needs of our staff. We continue to work with SeeMe Scotland on our improvement plan to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of our staff.

Within the context of the public sector pay policy we remain committed to providing competitive reward.  We will implement in 2024 the agreed 2023-25 pay offer, which includes our commitment to a contractual reduction to the working week from 37 hours to 35 hours from October 2024 without any pay reduction.

COPFS has an operational structure designed to deliver our objectives and a high-quality service for the people of Scotland.

COPFS is divided into functions:

• Local Court: comprising Initial Case Processing and all prosecutions in the Sheriff and JP Courts.
• High Court: dealing with the most serious crimes in Scotland including murder, sexual offences, and cold cases.
• Specialist Casework: Appeals Unit, the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit, the Covid Deaths Investigation Team, the Health and Safety Investigation Unit, the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, the Proceeds of Crime Unit, the Civil Recovery Unit, the Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit and the Criminal Allegations Against the Police Division;
• Litigation and Inquiries: overseeing civil cases arising from our work and our involvement in public inquiries.
• Operational Support: covering Information Services, Human Resources, Estates, Office Services, Finance and Procurement, Communications and Policy and Engagement.

Our governance structure, with the Executive Board, chaired by the Crown Agent and Chief Executive, focuses on strategic decision-making with business decision-making delegated to three Committees of the Board: Operational Performance, Business Process Improvement and Resources.  These Committees are responsible for delivering the objectives and our corporate strategies supporting delivery.

In 2024-25, the ‘Designed for Success’ programme will implement changes to our structure, governance and talent management to ensure our organisation is resilient and equipped to deliver successfully - now and in the long term.

COPFS is a demand led organisation that is required to meet state obligations to deliver justice and meet reasonable public expectations.  Expenditure is determined by demand and statutory compliance with limited availability for discretionary spend.

COPFS received an increased budget allocation for 2024-25 to tackle the criminal case backlog in our courts; continue investigating Covid deaths; and meet our statutory obligations and the requirements of demand-led casework.

While we have seen an increase in our resources for next year, public sector funding will continue to face challenges in years to come.  The increase in our budget for this year does not fund expansion and includes resources for delivering essential services not funded in our core 2023-24 budget.  It will enable us to maintain our current staffing levels for the 2024-25 financial year to support courts recovery, increased caseload after Covid and statutory and legal costs.

Even with this funding, COPFS must again deliver challenging annual efficiency savings, including from the application of stringent workforce planning and vacancy and attrition measures and by further reducing our non-staff costs where feasible to deliver a balanced budget for 2024-25.  We will devise a corporate workforce management plan to manage our people resources over 2024-25 and to support our future budget planning.  We will put in place the necessary corporate planning to ensure the organisation is prepared for implementing the new 35 hour working week from 1 October 2024, embedding new ways of working whilst continuing to deliver effectively and supporting our people.

We will work with Scottish Government to plan resources for 2025-26 and beyond.  In 2024-25, we will develop a plan setting out how COPFS will reduce its levels of resource needs as the pandemic recovery work is completed and reflecting casework, reform and transformation efficiencies.

In challenging economic circumstances, our increased budget allocation recognises COPFS’ essential public service role and reflects the Scottish Government’s commitment to securing a system of public prosecution and deaths investigation which meets the expectations of victims, next of kin and witnesses.

Staffing levels (full time equivalents) at 31 March 2024 were as follows:

• Senior Civil Servants: 30.81 (22.81 Legal and 8 Non-Legal)
• Prosecutors (including trainee solicitors): 732.84
• Business Managers, Case Support and other professional staff: 1,630.4
• Total: 2,393.69

We will measure progress against the COPFS and Function Business Plans for 2024-25.   We will put in place effective plans setting out key delivery aims, targets and timescales, which we will monitor and report progress throughout the year through COPFS’ corporate governance mechanisms.  The new COPFS governance, management and corporate structures we will put in place from the outcomes of the Designed for Success programme will further enhance our corporate delivery and reporting.

We will deliver improvements across all our key priorities over 2024-25, including the following deliverables:

¹ Statutory response deadlines for Freedom of Information (FOI) and other legislative or COPFS services with specific response timescales will remain