17 March 2010
MANAGEMENT BOARD
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 17 MARCH 2010
CONFERENCE ROOM 1, CROWN OFFICE
Present:
Catherine Dyer, Crown Agent & Chief Executive (Chair)
Peter Collings, Deputy Chief Executive
John Dunn, Deputy Crown Agent
Lesley Thomson, Area Procurator Fiscal, Glasgow
Morag McLaughlin, Area Procurator Fiscal, Lothian&Borders
Janice Irvine, Director of Human Resources
Robert Gordon, Non Executive Director
Bill Matthews, Non Executive Director
In Attendance:
Sara Shaw, Secretary
Apologies:
John Logue, Head of Policy
Kevin McArthur, Secretary
Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising
1. The minutes of the meeting of 12 February 2010 were approved. The Board congratulated Catherine Dyer on her appointment as Crown Agent and Chief Executive.
Corporate Reports
2. The meeting noted the regular Corporate Reports including the Performance and Workload, and the Target Summary (MB(10)13), reports. In discussion the following points were noted:
a) The performance of COPFS as a whole, against its national targets is impressive.
b) The High Court and Sheriff & Jury figures do not currently reflect the increased high proportion of custody cases, particularly High Court custody cases. The inclusion of this information would reflect more accurately the allocation of a significant amount of COPFS resources. Taking into account the proportion of custody cases, it is commendable that the Service is exceeding the bail indictment target.
c) There will be no immediate changes to the national performance targets as we enter the new fiscal year 2010-11. However Management Board (MB) members will continue to give consideration as to whether there is scope to increase the percentages for certain targets, without sacrificing quality. Further feasibility work will be required to inform future discussion,.
d) As with all other organisations the Service faces tougher financial times. The Board agreed to maintain the status quo at a time when future achievement capability of the Service is not as settled as in previous spending periods.
e) Catherine Dyer will arrange for further analysis work to be carried out, particularly around High Court, Sheriff and Jury and Deaths cases, including an assessment of why certain figures dipped at certain points in particular Areas throughout the year. This will inform further consideration by MB members of whether there is any capacity to increase the percentages for certain targets in coming years.
Action: Catherine Dyer
Finance Update
3. Peter Collings provided an update on the COPFS financial position as the fiscal year end approaches.
4. He explained that current indications are that the budget for 2011-12 is likely to be very tight, and would undoubtedly impact on the Service. MB agreed to commission further scenario planning work to inform future discussions.
FOS Update
5. Peter Collings advised that the roll out of the recent FOS update went well. He acknowledged that there have been some reports that the system is running slowly. In some instances, as a result of server requiring to carry additional users while maintenance work was carried out. It is hoped this would resolve shortly but there had also been positive feedback that the process for dealing with 'roll ups' is now much quicker.
6. As a result of the FOS update the system can now receive disclosure schedules from the police directly into a case, and is set up to enable the pilot of the secure disclosure website to take place.
7. He also explained that a feature has been added to the software on PCs which is designed to improve performance. It will be piloted in Livingston first of all, and timings will be measured with and without this feature enabled to allow comparison. The expectation is that this additional feature will make the system run marginally faster in areas where FOS is slowest, while there will be no significant difference in others.
Risk Issues / Management
8. Catherine Dyer welcomed Gertie Wallace to the meeting. Gertie introduced the paper MB(10)14 which advised MB members of the potential impact of a Stage Two amendment to section 89 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill introduced by Bill Aitken, Convenor to the Justice Committee. The amendment seeks to remove the materiality test from the assessment to be applied in respect of the disclosure of information.
9. MB members noted the position and the two likely outcomes if the amendment is passed.
10. John Dunn updated MB members about discussion at AFG on 3rd March regarding delegated authority to Areas to indict sheriff and jury report cases.
11. MB acknowledged that delegating such authority will provide a greater sense of ownership of these cases within Areas, and allow resources from the High Court Unit to be channelled elsewhere, e.g. greater support to complex and serious cases. It was agreed that staff within Areas are appropriately placed to address quality issues in respect of drafting charges and take appropriate decisions as to forum, without the High Court Unit having a direct role in each case.
Strategic Discussion with the Law Officers
12. MB members reflected on the approach adopted at the last strategic discussion and agreed, that the meeting on 12 May should follow a similar format. MB members also agreed relevant topics to be considered with the Law Officers at the discussion.
Senior Civil Service Seminar
13. Catherine Dyer advised MB members that the SCS Seminar will be held on 28th May 2010 at the Scottish Prosecution College, and will be followed by the COPFS Excellence Awards on the same date in the evening, also at the College.
14. MB members discussed potential themes for the Seminar.
Improving Public Sector Efficiency
15. Peter Collings introduced the paper MB(10)15 which advised MB members about the Audit Scotland Report "Improving Public Sector Efficiency" which has a checklist for public bodies. The paper sought the views of MB members as to whether there were any good practice areas where COPFS required to take particular action.
16. It was agreed that Operations Group and the Lothian & Borders Area would complete the checklist and then bring their findings back to the June MB meeting for further consideration by MB members.
Action: John Dunn, Morag McLaughlin
Investors in People - The Way Forward
17. Janice Irvine introduced the paper MB(10)16 which provided MB members with an outline of the options for future reaccreditation of Investors in People (IiP). It invited MB members to confirm their preferred option.
18. It was agreed that the Rolling Review process was the preferred approach for COPFS as opposed to the Annual or Three Year Assessments. Janice Irvine agreed to circulate to MB members a plan of action prepared by the People Strategy Action Group (PSAG) in response to the feedback from the most recent IiP assessment. She explained that the plan is theme based, with appropriate groupings of various evidence indicators under each theme.
Interim Communications
19. MB members considered and agreed a number of items to be included in the April Bulletin or to be communicated to staff via a separate post on PF Eye.
MB Secretariat
17 March 2010