Annual Report 2023-24

In 2023-24, HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland focused our scrutiny on how well the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) manages and prosecutes cases involving domestic abuse at sheriff summary level. In 2022-23, 11% of all charges reported by the police to COPFS related to domestic abuse. COPFS expects that domestic and sexual violence against women and children will continue to form a significant proportion of its casework for some years to come. Following a series of inspections relating to the investigation and prosecution of sexual crime, our work on domestic abuse continues the inspectorate’s focus in recent years on issues that predominantly affect women and children.

When carrying out inspections, we benefit from speaking to a range of COPFS staff and other justice professionals. Their views and experiences help shape our findings and recommendations. Our inspection reports would be immeasurably less impactful without their input. Often though, it is the discussions we have with those drawn into the criminal justice system as victims and witnesses that have the greatest influence on our work.

This year, as well as speaking to more than 50 advocacy workers who shared their clients’ experiences with us, we engaged directly with 23 people who had experienced domestic abuse. We are grateful for their willingness to revisit difficult and often traumatic periods in their lives, and applaud their desire to do so in the hope that their experiences could lead to better outcomes for others. We hope that they saw their suggestions reflected in our final inspection report. We expect that our report, with their input, will act as a catalyst for change and improvement in how domestic abuse cases are managed and prosecuted.

The picture that emerged from our inspection was of a service committed in principle to tackling domestic abuse and supporting victims, but which was struggling to put this commitment into practice in every case and to keep pace with increasing expectations. Although we found some cases that were well-managed and in which victims were supported and kept informed of developments, we also found many areas for improvement. We made 27 recommendations. Two key themes arose: a lack of effective case preparation; and poor communication with victims.

In cases we reviewed, we assessed communication between COPFS and 61 domestic abuse victims as unsatisfactory for 80% of those victims. This was disappointing, to say the least. It was particularly disappointing given that, in inspections covering a range of issues, we have persistently highlighted the need for COPFS to improve communication with victims. While we recognise there is a real desire to improve in this area, this must be supported by effective measures to turn policy into everyday practice and to monitor the quality of the service, including by seeking feedback from service users.

Our report on COPFS’s management of domestic abuse cases featured difficult messages for the service. However, I have been encouraged by the service’s response and its desire to improve. Having accepted our findings, COPFS has committed to implementing our recommendations by March 2025. Progressing our recommendations, as well as taking forward other work such as the summary case management pilot and modernisation of the Victim Information and Advice service, should contribute to a more effective justice process in which victims have confidence and feel safe and supported.

I have also been encouraged by COPFS’s commitment to work with its partners to improve the justice process. Some of the issues highlighted in our report were not entirely within the control of COPFS. We noted that it will require to work with other justice agencies, notably the police and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), to address the issues raised. I have been pleased by Police Scotland’s consideration of our findings, and its willingness to work with COPFS to improve the quality of Standard Prosecution Reports.

SCTS requires to address the backlog of cases caused by the pandemic and its desire to make the best use of court time is understandable. However, there is a need for COPFS to work with SCTS to ensure that the number of cases scheduled for court each day does not inappropriately raise the expectations of witnesses and is within the capacity of prosecutors. Too often, I heard prosecutors say that their efforts to effectively prepare cases were hampered by the volume of cases scheduled each day.

Our work on domestic abuse, and particularly the experiences shared with us by victims, led us to identify two new areas for inspection. These will be addressed in 2024-25. The first will be a review of how COPFS responds to enquiries received by National Enquiry Point, its customer contact centre. This includes enquiries that are resolved by National Enquiry Point at the first point of contact, or that are passed on to other teams within COPFS for action. This work will continue our focus on how well COPFS communicates with and supports those who use its service.

The second will be a review of the arrangements for citing witnesses to give evidence at court. Victims of domestic abuse and their advocacy workers raised various citation-related issues, prompting us to consider whether there is scope for greater efficiency and modernisation of the citation process. Given the role that police officers often play in serving citations on witnesses, we will carry out this review jointly with HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland.

Horizon-related prosecutions

In January 2024, the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office brought to widespread public attention miscarriages of justice that had arisen in connection with the Post Office’s Horizon accounting system. The drama highlighted the devastating impact of the scandal on the lives of sub-postmasters, including on their livelihoods, reputations, family life and mental and physical health. Sub-postmasters had been prosecuted and convicted of dishonesty offences on the basis of unreliable evidence from Horizon. In England and Wales, the Post Office itself had initiated private prosecutions. In contrast, in Scotland, the Post Office’s status as a specialist reporting agency meant it reported its investigations to COPFS for a prosecutorial decision.^[1]

Although only reaching widespread public consciousness due to the drama’s broadcast in January 2024, the miscarriages of justice had been recognised for some time, with a public inquiry having commenced in 2020. Also in 2020, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) began an investigation of sub-postmaster prosecutions in Scotland. With the support of COPFS, the SCCRC identified over 80 individuals who may have been prosecuted on the basis of Horizon evidence. To date, eight cases have been referred by the SCCRC to the High Court and all eight individuals have successfully appealed against their convictions.^[2] Further cases are still being reviewed by the SCCRC, while the Scottish Parliament has passed the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024. The Act seeks to quash the conviction of anyone wrongly convicted as a result of the defective Horizon system.

Appropriately, questions have been asked about COPFS’s role in the prosecutions and its reliance on evidence supplied by the Post Office. The Lord Advocate has outlined COPFS’s role in statements to the Scottish Parliament.^[3] In May 2024, she announced that the Post Office’s status as a specialist reporting agency had been removed due to its ‘fundamental and sustained failures in connection with Horizon cases’. As a result, the Post Office will no longer be able to investigate and report criminal allegations directly to COPFS, but must report allegations to Police Scotland for investigation. The Lord Advocate also announced that work is underway to strengthen the guidance and safeguards that exist to ensure all specialist reporting agencies abide by their duties of disclosure and candour in reporting cases for prosecution.

I welcome the action taken by the Lord Advocate and COPFS’s work on specialist reporting agencies. The inspectorate will monitor the outcome of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry and will consider the scope for scrutiny in the future, including whether there is value in scrutinising how COPFS works with and takes forward reports made by specialist reporting agencies.

Forensic pathology services

In our Annual Report 2022-23, I highlighted the work being done by COPFS to procure forensic pathology services and the challenges it faces in doing so. I also highlighted the need for leadership by the Scottish Government, with support from the NHS as well as COPFS, to develop the optimal delivery model for pathology services across Scotland. This issue was taken up by the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee in 2023.^[4] COPFS advised the Committee of its continued efforts to support improvement in the delivery of pathology services and, in April 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs informed the Committee that work had begun to scope potential delivery models.^[5] I welcome the attention being given to the need for reform, so that value for money can be achieved while also ensuring that forensic pathology services meet the needs of the justice system, bereaved families and the wider public.

Demonstrating impact and value for money

Achieving effective, efficient public services that provide value for money is critical at any time, but particularly when public finances are under pressure. Delivering a service while continuing to invest in improvement is a particular challenge for organisations such as COPFS which are demand-led.

Demand has continued to grow in recent years:

• While the number of criminal reports received by COPFS has decreased in recent years (although it rose almost 3% between 2022-23 and 2023-24),^[6] cases that are reported continue to be more serious and complex and are often managed by those with specialist expertise.
• COPFS is continuing to carry an increased caseload as the backlog of cases caused by the pandemic is addressed. Extended case journey times place additional demands on COPFS to keep victims and witnesses up to date and to manage the increased risk that they may disengage from the justice process.
• The number of death investigations managed by COPFS has increased substantially in recent years. While the number of death reports received in 2023-24 had fallen from a peak reached in the first year of the pandemic, it was still 21% higher than the number of death reports received in 2019-20.
• The Scottish Parliament continues to pass and consider new legislation imposing additional duties on COPFS, including in respect of the service provided to victims and witnesses.

To support COPFS to meet these and other demands, the service has received a series of increases to its budget. In 2024-25, its budget allocation is £223 million, up from £196.6 million in 2023-24.^[7] This follows other substantial increases in recent years. With such increases come an expectation that COPFS will continue to invest in and improve its service, and work with its partners to reduce the backlog of cases and case journey times.

COPFS appreciates that budget increases cannot be sustained indefinitely. It is working on a three to five-year delivery plan detailing how it will reduce its current staff levels and resource needs as pandemic recovery work is completed and as it delivers various reforms.

As COPFS continues with this work, it will be important for it to understand what is being achieved with the additional funding provided and how, in future, it will achieve more with less. Data is key. Gathering and using data effectively will allow COPFS to take evidence-based decisions about resource allocation and the impact of new initiatives. I therefore welcome work by COPFS to review how it uses management information to better understand and inform its activities.

As COPFS carries out its data review, it should also consider the need to be transparent about its performance and the quality of its service delivery, and the need for it to publicly demonstrate what is being achieved with its additional funding. For some years, COPFS has been publicly reporting its performance against four key targets. While it is useful to have consistent targets against which performance can be monitored over time, they only provide limited information. The publication of more meaningful data about the breadth of the work undertaken by COPFS would provide the Scottish Government, stakeholders and the public with a more accurate picture of the service provided by COPFS and the challenges it faces, as well as facilitating greater public accountability.

Finally, I thank all those who have contributed to the work of HM Inspectorate of Prosecution over 2023-24 and whose insights and suggestions have helped shape our work. This includes the domestic abuse survivors who shared their experiences with us and a range of organisations who provide essential and much valued support to victims. It also includes the many COPFS staff who ably facilitate our scrutiny activity. I also thank the inspectorate staff for their commitment and support.

Laura Paton

HM Chief Inspector of Prosecution in Scotland

September 2024