The Scottish Government

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1 INTRODUCTION

The Ayrshire Area covers one quarter of the territory covered by Strathclyde police. The Area is part of two Sheriffdoms, the District of Ayr falling within the Sheriffdom of South Strathclyde Dumfries and Galloway and the District of Kilmarnock within the Sheriffdom of North Strathclyde. It accounts for about 7.5% of Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service caseload.

There are two Procurator Fiscal offices in the Area situated at:

• Ayr
• Kilmarnock

The Area Management Team is based in the Kilmarnock office.

The Area covers Sheriff Courts at Ayr and Kilmarnock and District Courts over three local authority areas at Ayr, Cumnock, Girvan, Irvine and Kilmarnock.

The Ayrshire Area has identified four key objectives in its business plan. These are based on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service corporate objectives:

• Considering, and taking appropriate action on, reports in respect of crimes committed in Ayrshire
• Investigating sudden or suspicious deaths which occur in Ayrshire
• Investigating all complaints alleging criminal conduct by Police Officers in Ayrshire
• Providing assistance and advice to crime witnesses, their families and vulnerable witnesses and to liaise with relevant agencies

In addition the Area highlighted significant operational priorities in their 2007/08 Business Plan and these are follows:

• Area Reorganisation - incorporating Area High Court/Deaths Unit; Area ICP Unit; Office based Summary and Sheriff and Jury Units; Meeting bail targets; and Rotation between staff of experienced staff
• Preparation, training and implementation of FOS2
• Preparation, training and introduction of Summary Justice Reform
• Continuous review of Disclosure practices
• Maintaining high standards of dealing with victims, witnesses and next of kin
• Management of Post Mortem and Toxicology contracts

The staffing structure for the Ayrshire Area is as follows:

AYRSHIRE AREA STRUCTURE
(as at April 2008)

Workload:

Crown Office statistics ¹ show that during year January 2007 to December 2007 the Ayrshire Area received 24,957 reports. This was a very slight increase from the previous year compared with the national average of -2% over the same period. The figures can be broken down per office as follows:

For the same period as above there was an 12% increase of cases placed on petition (the most serious cases) in the Ayrshire Area compared with a national average of -4% and an increase of 6% of net petitions (cases remaining on petition after further information received and considered) compared with a national average of -8%. It is noted that the Ayrshire Area has the highest increase of both cases placed on petition and net petitions during this period.

The Area Business Plan 2007/08 indicated there would be a projected increase in petitions of 51% in Kilmarnock and 27% in Ayr. These figures would have been gathered at a specific point in time and may have reflected an expected change in business as a result of the particular period reviewed.

Figures showing percentage change in business under all categories of work between periods January 2006 to December 2007 are shown in the tables at Appendix 1.

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