Responding to enquiries: service delivery through National Enquiry Point

Footnotes

1 COPFS, Strategic Plan 2023-27.

2 COPFS, Improving our service strategy 2023-2027.

3 Scottish Government, Victims’ Code for Scotland (2018).

4 The Standards of Service for Victims and Witnesses are published annually and in partnership by COPFS, Police Scotland, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, the Scottish Prison Service and the Parole Board for Scotland.

5 IPS, Thematic report on COPFS Enquiry Point (2013).

6 IPS, The prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level (2024), from paragraph 437.

7 IPS, Inspection Framework (2024).

8 IPS, Thematic report on the Victims' Right to Review and complaints handling and feedback follow-up report (2018) and IPS, Thematic report on complaints handling and feedback (2015).

9 IPS, The prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level (2024).

10 While the number of calls received is routinely collated, the number of emails is not. Inspectors required to manually count the emails received in the relevant week. This approach risked a small degree of human error, but allowed us to estimate the total number of enquiries received during the week and to estimate the proportion of emails and calls.

11 The results of our contact audit are statistically significant with a confidence interval of 95% ±7%.

12 For further information about the new contact centre application, see from paragraph 370.

13 With the exception of data that was manually collated during the Dundee pilot (see from paragraph 296).

14 COPFS, Business Plan 2024-25 (2024).

15 These issues are explored in further detail from paragraph 270 (transfer difficulties) and paragraph 156 (failure demand).

16 Throughout this report, percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding.

17 COPFS, Improving our service strategy 2023-2027 (2023).

18 IPS, Thematic report on COPFS Enquiry Point (2013), Recommendation 13.

19 IPS, Thematic report on COPFS Enquiry Point (2013).

20 See paragraph 70.

21 There are further layers of business management staff between the Procurator Fiscal for Policy and Engagement and the Enquiry Point business manager.

22 IPS, The prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level (2024), from paragraph 492.

23 Professionals often enquire about the status of a case. They are also more likely to make email enquiries. Thus, there is a far greater proportion of email enquiries about the status of a case than call enquiries.

24 To help with understanding demand, COPFS may find the National Audit Office’s work in this area helpful – NAO, Improving services – understanding and managing demand.

25 Access to information protocol – A guide for victims and witnesses.

26 IPS, The prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level (2024) at paragraph 454.

27 IPS, The prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level (2024), Recommendation 23.

28 For more on ‘channel shift’ in a policing context, see H Wells, W Andrews, E Clayton, E Aston, M O’Neill & B Bradford, What is the strategic vision for delivering digital police contact? (October 2024).

29 To give an idea of the scale and complexity of the contact sheets, if they were to be printed, they would be over 500 pages long.

30 These issues should be read alongside those listed at paragraph 179, where we highlight a lack of guidance and training.

31 Clerks upload data about court outcomes to the Criminal Online Portal, and then check or validate that it is accurate. Unvalidated data can be viewed by others before it is validated. Uncertainty about the meaning of unvalidated and validated data and whether use should be made of unvalidated data was not unique to operators. Other staff in COPFS were also unsure how to handle this information.

32 IPS, The prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level (2024), from paragraph 442 and Recommendation 22.

33 IPS, The prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level (2024).

34 The VIA minute sheet is a written record of any contact between VIA officers and victims and vulnerable witnesses in a case where VIA is involved. It may also record actions taken by VIA officers in relation to the case. Prosecutors may also record notes from contact with a victim on the minute sheet.

35 COPFS People Survey 2023.

36 IPS, The prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level (2024), page 7.

37 IPS, Inspection of COPFS practice in relation to sections 274 and 275 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (2022), paragraph 49.

38 PCS/Unity Consulting Scotland, Rough justice: the challenges faced by Scotland’s justice workers (2024)