Crown Office

Introduction to Class

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service provides Scotland's independent public prosecution and deaths investigation service. It is part of the Scottish Government and its Ministerial head is the Lord Advocate, whose position as the head of the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths in Scotland is protected by the Scotland Act.

The Lord Advocate is assisted by the Solicitor General for Scotland. Together they are the Scottish Law Officers and members of the Scottish Government.

The Lord Advocate and Solicitor General are assisted in relation to High Court prosecution and similar work by Advocate Deputes and who are known collectively as Crown Counsel. Advocate Deputes are experienced advocates or solicitor advocates, including suitably qualified members of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, and are appointed for a period of about three years.

The Crown Agent and Chief Executive is a senior civil servant and is the permanent head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and its accountable officer.

The local representatives of the Lord Advocate as public prosecutors are District Procurators Fiscal who cover the 48 Sheriff Court Districts in Scotland. These are organised into 11 Areas, managed by an Area Procurator Fiscal.

Information available

This class provides information about the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. In particular information on the following is provided:

• The Law Officers and their areas of responsibility;

• Organisation and Management structure of COPFS, including the names of senior management within Crown Office and the Area Procurators Fiscal;

• How to contact COPFS, including COPFS office locations;

• Service values and objectives;

• Strategic Objectives of COPFS;

• Minutes of meetings of the Management Board and the Area Fiscals Group (these will be published 3 months in arrears);

• The business plans of the Areas and of the Divisions in Crown Office;

• Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer;

• Annual reports and annual financial reports;

• Relationship with the police;

• Victim Information and Advice; (see Victims of Crime section of website)

• National protocols with Criminal Justice partners; (see Publications section of website)

• Information about recruitment to COPFS, including details of current vacancies;
• Information about the services which COPFS provides and, where available, performance information in relation to:

Customer Service (see Contact Us section of website)

Complaints (see Contact Us section)

Requests under Data Protection, Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulations (see Key Information section of website)

Where the information within this class can be located

The information listed within this class can be found under the About Us section of the COPFS website, except where details of another location are provided above.

Other useful websites

• Procurement - This function is carried out by the Central Government Centre of Procurement Expertise
• The Independent Inspectorate
• Scottish Parliamentary Questions