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8 RELATIONS WITH CRIMINAL JUSTICE PARTNERS
The Ayrshire Area made a commitment as stated in their Business Plan 2007/08 that they will continue to work closely with their criminal justice partners and that both District offices will continue to play an active role in their respective Court Liaison Committees along with representatives from Scottish Courts, Sheriffs, Police, Social Work, Reporter, local Faculty of Solicitors and Reliance.
The Area also participates, in conjunction with other Strathclyde Areas (Argyll and Clyde, Glasgow and Lanarkshire), in the Strathclyde Area Liaison Meetings. These are bi-monthly meetings where Area Fiscals, Area Business Managers and Senior Officers from the Criminal Justice Office at Strathclyde Police get together to discuss various issues.
Feedback
Chapter 5 dealt with service to victims and witnesses and included feedback from some criminal justice partners on these issues.
However, in order to obtain as wide an input as possible from criminal justice partners a large number of individuals and organisations were contacted to seek their views.
Sheriffs
Contact was made with the Sheriffs at the two Sheriff Courts at Ayrshire namely at Kilmarnock and Ayr.
In general there were good working relations between the Procurator Fiscal's Office in Kilmarnock and the Sheriff Court at Kilmarnock.
Any issues which arise for example in relation to the lateness of forensic reports are taken up with the District Fiscal and resolved.
There are more formal meetings including the court consultative committee chaired by the Senior Sheriff where the management of the business is discussed.
Disclosure had been a problem but it was reported that this was declining as a result of efforts made to improve the situation.
On the summary side the intermediate diets were deemed to work well in Kilmarnock and approximately 25% plead guilty at the intermediate diet.
Sheriff and juries are generally well prepared by the prosecution although witnesses failing to attend is seen as a problem.
The summary court loading is high at 16 trials per day and it was felt that the nature of the work taken to the Sheriff Courts was not always high although it was expected that Summary Justice Reform would impact on that.
In Ayr the feedback from the Sheriffs was that it was noticeable that the Depute Fiscals were inexperienced and Disclosure was seen as a problem partly at least attributable to late delivery of statements from the police. This results in a fair number of continued intermediate diets. These matters are usually resolved by co-operation of the parties.
Sheriff Clerks
Kilmarnock
The Sheriff Clerk at Kilmarnock describes relations with the District Fiscal as being good.
Meetings are on both a formal and informal level the formal level being the usual protocol meetings and a sub-group meets to discuss day to day matters such as court programming.
Preparations are being made for the assimilation of the District Court which might result in some District Courts sitting at the Sheriff Court building.
The expected increase on undertakers as a result of Summary Justice Reform is not anticipated as being a problem.
On the target front the Kilmarnock court is performing well and there is good co-operation among the various criminal justice partners including the defence.
Disclosure was not seen as a problem in Kilmarnock and the relatively high number of pleas of guilty at the intermediate diet stage were commented on.
There have been glitches with the IT system and again efforts are made to resolve these matters.
Ayr
The usual protocol meetings take place between the Procurator Fiscal at Ayr and the Sheriff Clerk at Ayr. The agenda for this is fixed and formal minutes are kept. This covers the running of the courts and looks at statistics and also target achievement.
Recently the 85% target for disposal of criminal business has not been met and discussions have been ongoing in an effort to arrive at a joint working solution.
The results are an offshoot of the local Criminal Justice Board which consists of the Sheriff Clerk, Procurator Fiscal, Police and various other partners. This deals with issues such as court loadings.
It was intended to resurrect administrative meetings which dealt with day to day issues such as the IT link as this approach was found to be helpful in the past. This group will consist primarily of managers from both offices.
In addition to the more formal contacts there are many informal contacts including a joint training day with the Procurator Fiscal's Office.
In contrast to Kilmarnock the plea rate at intermediate diet courts is not particularly good at Ayr. The Procurator Fiscal's Office are piloting a case allocation system so that Deputes retain ownership of a case and this may help to improve matters.
On the Summary Justice Reform front joint discussions are underway to deal with any increase in the number of undertakers.
Unification of the District Court into the Sheriff Court is being planned for with a scoping project due to start in March 2008. No instrumental problems are envisaged.
District Clerks
Feedback was obtained from a number of the District Clerks in Ayrshire. The Procurator Fiscal's Office prosecutes in District Courts run by three separate local authorities having courts at Ayr, Cumnock, Girvan, Irvine and Kilmarnock.
The South Ayrshire District Clerk reported good relations with the Procurator Fiscal's Office at Ayr (this covers the District Courts at Ayr and Girvan).
Conduct by the Fiscals in court is described as very professional.
The Procurator Fiscal provides training for Justices.
In general the few problems that arise are dealt with informally and although there is a District Court liaison committee it has not met for some time as no major issues have arisen.
The Clerk at Irvine District Court indicated that the staff of the two offices try and help each other out although there can be communication problems at times.
There can be problems in manning a court for a custody on a day which is not scheduled for a court. He would like the Deputes to arrive at court earlier in order to have more time to speak to the defence solicitors. Failure to do this can result in the court starting late. It is felt that Fiscal Deputes don't get enough notice of when they are to do the court and therefore lack time to prepare. This can result in a failure to tell the court the value of property stolen or goods damaged or a failure to locate good behaviour reports which results in cases being continued. It is recognised, however, that they are under pressure.
The IT link does cause problems from time to time.
Joint training had taken place in the past with the Justices and it is hoped that the unification of the summary courts may result in greater use of this.
The District Clerk at Kilmarnock District Court (which also covers Cumnock) described good working relationships between himself and the Procurator Fiscal's staff.
There were no major problems with court preparation by the prosecution, such problems as there were were usually down to the defence being over-booked.
It was noticeable that there was a big difference in the number of cases which went to trial at Cumnock as opposed to Kilmarnock.
Previously the Justices for Cumnock would not sit in Kilmarnock and vice versa but they are now integrated.
Again input was obtained from the Procurator Fiscal's Office on JP training.
There was a problem with the declining number of Justices for the Area and with the advent of the new Summary Justice system it was felt a lot of emphasis would need to be put on training for the new regime.
Police
There is one Divisional Commander for Ayrshire which covers both the Fiscal's Offices at Ayr and Kilmarnock.
Approximately 22,000 crimes are reported to the police in the Area every year.
The Divisional Commander is represented on the Ayrshire Criminal Justice Board which is chaired alternatively by the two Sheriffs Principal of North and South Strathclyde.
In addition there is a local Criminal Justice Implementation Group which includes the Procurator Fiscal, Sheriff Clerk, District Clerks, defence and others.
In addition to the more formal contact between the police and the Procurator Fiscal there are regular informal meetings.
In particular the Case Management Sergeant links closely with the Procurator Fiscal's Office.
The Divisional Commander is keen to improve the quality of reports submitted to the Procurator Fiscal and targets top offenders in Ayrshire and this is communicated to the Procurator Fiscal to enable a joint approach to be taken.
This has been described as very successful with the Procurator Fiscal rolling up cases against persistent offenders.
Short term secondments of staff from each organisation has been used in the past to improve understanding of how each operates.
The Fiscal's Office has provided training on the quality of police reports to raise awareness among police officers of what is required.
The question of Disclosure is being addressed and a way forward was agreed between the Area Fiscal and the Divisional Commander.
In serious cases a Disclosure Officer is appointed who keeps track of all statements etc obtained. One slight problem for the police is that if they decide a case will be summary but it ends up on petition different rules apply.
On the question of Summary Justice Reform the Divisional Commander has met with the Area Fiscal and Sheriff Clerk and agreement has been reached on a number of slots for undertakers. No great problem is expected.
The police are happy with the joint forward planning for Summary Justice Reform in Ayrshire and an Implementation Group has taken this forward.
New rules on bail have meant that the police report needs to be as comprehensive as possible and disclosable summaries has meant that the police summary needs also to be as accurate as possible.
The Divisional Commander feels too many police officers are cited to court quite typically 72 police officers on a court day with only 2 or 3 giving evidence.
However there is a system of trying to fix trials to suit police leave etc. In addition Ayrshire has a very good standby scheme for the police. The police officers cited to court report to the police station and can write up reports etc. There is a liaison police officer at court and he contacts them when they need to come and give evidence. The Lord Advocate recently made positive comments on this Ayrshire standby scheme. It currently exists only in the Sheriff Summary Court but it is hoped to extend it to the District Court soon.
Overall communication and liaison with the Fiscal's Offices in Ayrshire is described as very good.
Defence
Input was received from a very experienced Ayrshire defence solicitor.
On the question of Crown Advocacy in court the general view is that the standard is high particularly the jury trials undertaken by experienced retired Fiscals.
So far as the state of preparedness for court is concerned in summary cases again his opinion was that the standard was high although there could be problems in relation to forensic and DVD evidence. A recent project to have a Depute available well before the court starts to discuss pleas was seen to be a success.
On the question of Disclosure this is a situation which is described as "developing" and the statutory outcome of Lord Coulsfield's report is awaited. At the summary level Disclosure is described as having improved although wide variations are noted on the standard of police statements either in relation to police officers themselves or statements taken from civilians.
Disclosure in solemn work is not felt to be a problem.
So far as liaison and plea negotiation and communication are concerned the situation is described as being greatly improved. Of particular help is the advance notice to the defence of court rotas which enables local agents to try and contact the appropriate Depute in advance of a case calling in court.
Finally in relation to the Vulnerable Witnesses Act it was felt that the Procurator Fiscal Service was in the vanguard of implementation although there had been difficulties with "remote sites". This of course is a matter for Scottish Courts Service and not the Procurator Fiscal.
Community Justice Authority
The South West of Scotland Community Justice Authority went live in April 2007. Excellent co-operation from the Procurator Fiscal's Offices in the Area was described with good attendance by Area, District Fiscals and others at the various meetings.
In relation to the Authority's Area Plan the Procurator Fiscal has lead responsibility in the action in relation to domestic abuse and similarly take the lead in Summary Justice Reform, for appropriate referrals and to consider the requirement for mental health based "diversion schemes".
Overall partnership working is described as of being of very good quality.
Reporters to the Children's Panel
In South Ayrshire the relationship between the Reporter's office and the Procurator Fiscal was described as very good.
Both the Reporter and the Procurator Fiscal are involved in inter-agency work and both are represented on a range of different meetings including the Anti-Social Behaviour Group, the Youth Strategy Group, Child Protection Committee and the Court Standing Committee.
The Procurator Fiscal and the Reporter get involved in child protection training on a multi-agency basis for South Ayrshire and there is a one day basic awareness training.
There was described as a high level of co-operation between the two offices with information freely and quickly given.
Currently the method of reviewing jointly reported cases is under consideration. This is aimed at speeding up the process. This new method will be reviewed in due course.
In East Ayrshire (Kilmarnock) relations between the Reporter's office and the Procurator Fiscal at Kilmarnock are also described as good and again there has been a review with the Procurator Fiscal of how jointly reported cases are processed.
In North Ayrshire relations with the Procurator Fiscal are always described as good. There had always been a dedicated Fiscal dealing with jointly reported cases and this arrangement was seen to work reasonably effectively. Again mirroring the other two areas there has been a change in the methodology of processing jointly reported cases in order to speed up the process.
Several examples of good practice were highlighted including advice given by the Procurator Fiscal with good exchange of information, medical reports etc.
The Reporter and the Procurator Fiscal are both members of the North Ayrshire Child Protection Committee and are active participants. Both provide input to training days and both are involved in child protection multi-agency court skills training.
The only issue was to remind Fiscal staff that when dealing with persons convicted of an offence specified in subsection 2 of Section 48 of the 1995 Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act that they can ask the court to remit the child to the Reporter. The Reporter feels that this is extremely useful and might in some circumstances defend the need for additional court appearances for a child victim.
Child Protection Committees
One comment was received from the North Ayrshire Child Protection Committee to the effect that they do have a representative from the Procurator Fiscal Service although attendance at their meetings was poor. It is hoped that the appointment of a new representative from the Procurator Fiscal Service will result in a more meaningful contribution.
Local Authorities
A representative from East Ayrshire Council reported that historically there was an issue with the Procurator Fiscal not taking up cases reported by the local authority due to poor reporting. As a result all local authority reports now come through the legal services for checking. This includes environmental health and others. This has greatly improved the take up rate by the Procurator Fiscal.
North Ayrshire Council Environmental Health Service responded to our request for information.
The move to electronic (as opposed to paper) reporting was seen to have the advantage of less information being required at the initial reporting stage. The downside was that it produced a "remoteness" feel to the system and there was no routine communication of reasons why cases were not taken up.
There was a request for more explanation and training on the use of the new electronic reporting system. Contact when made was described as being friendly and helpful and there had been useful discussions with the Procurator Fiscal's Office on anti-social noise cases which had helped smooth the way for reporting breaches of this new legislation.
Social Work
A response was received from North Ayrshire Council Criminal Justice Social Work Department.
Main contact had been through the use by the Procurator Fiscal of the diversion from prosecution system. Criminal Justice Social Work were described as having a good working relationship with the Procurator Fiscal in relation to diversion although it was noted that the numbers of cases being diverted had continued to dwindle.
There was a request for more cases to be diverted in this vein.
There had been a meeting between the District Procurator Fiscal and the local Manager and as a result the use of diversion had increased and it was hoped that this would continue.
It was noted that the new national strategy for the management of offenders published in May 2006 which set the guidance for the newly formed Community Justice Authorities indicated that services should be focused around groups of offenders and the first group of these was first time and less serious offenders. It was hoped that diversion would be a useful device in dealing with these.
North Ayrshire Council Youth Justice Department also responded.
Previous good links between the council and key individuals within the Procurator Fiscal Service were described but unfortunately this had not been sustained as key personnel had changed.
It was felt that children and families' services within social services would benefit from an identified link within the Procurator Fiscal Service in relation to the exchange of information considering the process of juveniles appearing on offence matters. It was felt an agreed strategy could also support the identification of young people who could be suitable for diversionary measures.
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