Minutes of the Executive Board – 8 November 2023

Present:

• Lindsey Miller (Chair) Deputy Crown Agent, Operational Support
• Stephen McGowan, Deputy Crown Agent, Litigation
• Jennifer Harrower, Deputy Crown Agent, Local Court
• Kenny Donnelly, Deputy Crown Agent, Specialist Casework
• Ruth McQuaid, Deputy Crown Agent, High Court
• Keith Dargie, Head of Business Services
• Sarah Carter, Director of Human Resources
• Marlene Anderson, Director of Finance and Procurement
• Annie Gunner Logan, Non-executive director
• David Watt, Non-executive director
• Vanessa Davies, Non-executive director
• Jonathan Shebioba, Director of Support Services
• Lorraine Almond, Head of Covid Deaths Investigation Team

In attendance:

• Ann Marie Henderson, Secretariat
• Mairi Boyle, Secretariat   

Apologies:

• John Logue, Crown Agent

Agenda Item 1 – Welcome and Apologies

1. DCA Operational Support opened the meeting and welcomed all colleagues. No conflicts of interest were noted.

Agenda Item 2 - Minutes of previous meeting / update on actions

2. The minutes of the meeting held on 4 October 2023 were approved and can be published.

Update on Actions

3. Action 1 – update will be provided under Agenda Item 5.

4. Action 2 – DCA Local Court provided an update on issues with GeoAmey service provision raised at the August meeting of the Board. Since then the DCA had attended a meeting of criminal justice partners and GeoAmey senior management. Contract terms have been reviewed and it is anticipated this will enable GeoAmey to recruit and retain staff. This should have an impact towards the end of the financial year. Meantime COPFS continues to work with partners to manage custody business, including using the national jurisdiction for appearances from custody. Work on virtual custody courts is being reinvigorated, this time on a national basis, which will provide a longer-term solution to custody court issues.

Agenda Item 3 - Finance Update

5. The Director of Finance and Procurement introduced paper EB23/24(28).

6. The Director of Finance and Procurement summarised the current position on the 2023/24 budget allocation and forecasts. It was highlighted that, whilst we have had in-year support from SG and continue to negotiate with them about in year resource required, challenges remain and we still need to deliver efficiencies. The Director then turned to the 2024/25 budget and engagement taking place with SG ahead of next month’s budget to explain our requirements and pressures, including the need to resource CDIT in the next and future FYs.

7. There was discussion about the judgement of the Appeal Court in the Lord Advocate’s reference no.1 of 2023; the implications of this for all criminal cases and sexual offence cases in particular; and the project that will identify work to be done, including communicating with the public, and assess resource requirements. DCA Specialist Casework assured the Board that work was ongoing on the structure and scope of this work and offered to provide a verbal update at the next meeting and a paper on the scale and scope of the work and on financial implications in March 2024. More generally there was discussion about dealing with rising demand at a time of reducing budget and strategies in place to deal with that.

8. DCA Operational Support made reference to the update on the pathology, toxicology and mortuary programme, provided so that the Board had clarity on the pressures caused by the contractual difficulties COPFS faces. The Convenor of the Criminal Justice Committee has noted the commentary from HM Chief Inspector of Prosecution on the need for a national service and system-wide work led by SG and has written to the Crown Agent for his views. The Crown Agent will reply to this and will engage with the SG Directors of Justice and Health.

Overtime Update

9. The Director of Finance and Procurement introduced paper EB23/24(29) which was noted by the Board.

10. The DCA Local Court reflected on discussion at the August Board meeting about the level of overtime attributable to Local Court. She emphasised the importance of understanding that much of the Local Court OT spend relates to mandatory work, including staffing courts running late (as they have done this FY due to the GeoAmey service delivery issues) and public holiday courts. The DCA said that she would welcome a breakdown of mandatory and discretionary OT. The Head of Business Services said this would be available from the Resources Committee.

Agenda Item 4 – Estates Update

11. Head of Business Services introduced paper EB23/24(30) and welcomed the Director of Support Services to the meeting. He reminded the Board of previous discussions on estates. The purpose of this presentation was to take stock, ensure that the Board are aware of two particular business cases (West of Scotland estate and Ballater Street) and to obtain their view on submitting these to SG.

12. Following the presentation from the Director of Support Services there was wide-ranging discussion on the business cases and options. DCA Litigation considered more work required to be done on the future use of our estate, particularly on how we use our buildings to interact with victims, witnesses and nearest relatives in a trauma-enhanced way. The Board agreed that the West of Scotland business case was not ready to be shared with SG at this time. The Head of Business Services will establish a short life working group on shaping estates, taking account of what our service will look like in the future and what will be asked of us by service users; and provide an update to the Board in due course.

13. The Board agreed that the Ballater Street business case could be submitted to SG for the purpose of SG giving approval for COPFS pursuing one of the two landlord options identified.

Agenda Item 5 – Covid Deaths Investigation Team Update

14. DCA Operational Support welcomed the Head of CDIT to the meeting. The Head of CDIT introduced paper EB23/24(31) and summarised the current casework of CDIT, how this is being managed and addressed timescales for the work. The Board thanked the Head of CDIT for such a helpful paper and for getting a grip on this complex and difficult area of work. DCA Specialist Casework agreed and emphasised the enormity of the task.

15. There followed discussion about the purpose of the CDIT work: possible criminality and fatal accident inquiries are being considered as appropriate; engagement with and taking account of the views of nearest relatives; the Article 2 obligations on COPFS to investigate reported deaths notwithstanding the public inquiries; and how the team is being supported in dealing with challenging subject matter.

16. The Head of Business Services reiterated that discrete funding is being provided for CDIT, and the need for resource in future years has been included in submissions to SG who are aware that this is complex work and will take time.

17. The Board asked the Head of CDIT to return to the May 2024 meeting of the Board with a further update and the work of CDIT and the likely resource requirement beyond FY 2024/25.

Agenda Item 6 – Function Update – Operational Support

18. DCA Operational Support introduced paper EB23/24(32). The DCA highlighted the ICO audit of COPFS practice in relation to recovery of evidence from digital devices. There will be a need for complete data mapping of COPFS, mandatory training for staff, and, given imminent staffing changes, the recruitment of a data protection officer with the requisite skills to deal with this issue. The ICO have made 22 recommendations in respect of governance, policy risk, and resource. They will follow up their recommendations in six months. There is a plan in place to address the recommendations and this will be shared with the Board.

Agenda Item 7 – Function Update – Local Court

19. DCA Local Court introduced paper EB23/24(33). The DCA drew the Board’s attention to the transfer of Local Court posts to SCG, the anticipated impact of this and steps taken to mitigate this.

Agenda Item 8 – Function Update – Specialist Casework

20. DCA Specialist Casework introduced paper EB23/24(34). It continues to be the case that Specialist produce high quality work and good results. The priority is to improve further the quality of the work and the timeliness of the work. This is being done in ongoing improvement projects and in improving MI available. The Board thanked the DCA for this work and the momentum in this area.

Agenda Item 9 – Function Update – High Court

21. DCA High Court introduced paper EB23/24(35). The DCA provided more detail on the challenge of reporting all cases by the pre-Covid timebar within the next two years, whilst dealing with ever-increasing new HC work; and the work that is being done to achieve that.

Agenda Item 10 – Committee Updates – Resources

22. DCA Operational Support introduced paper EB23/24(36) and this was noted by the Board.

Agenda Item 11 – Committee Updates – Business Improvement

23. Head of Business Services introduced paper EB23/24(37) and this was noted by the Board. He provided further detail on work on the Witness Gateway, including stakeholder engagement, ahead of the launch of the formal pilot phase in early 2024. The DCA Local Court said that she had recently become involved in the project and advised the Board of the change of emphasis from assessing witness availability to improving the experience of witnesses and improving the quality of prosecutions and the possibilities for the Gateway.

Agenda Item 12 – Committee Updates – Operational Performance

24. DCA Litigation introduced paper EB23/24(38) and this was noted by the Board.

Agenda Item 13 - Any other business

25. DCA Operational Support gave a brief update on the VIA modernisation project, the ambition of the project and how this links in with the work of the sexual offences review. The DCA will bring a paper on the project to the March 2024 meeting of the Board.