Minutes of the Strategic Board: 2 September 2025

Present

• Alison Saunders, Non-executive Director (Chair) 
• John Logue, Crown Agent and Chief Executive
• Lindsey Miller, Deputy Crown Agent, Operational Support
• Stephen McGowan, Deputy Crown Agent, Litigation
• Jim Brisbane, Director of Strategy
• David Watt, Non-executive Director
• John Burns, Non-executive Director (MS Teams)
• Annie Gunner Logan, Non-executive Director
• Helena Kiely, Non-executive Director (MS Teams)

In attendance:

• Christopher Hastings, Corporate Governance Manager (Secretariat)
• Frances Ross, Head of Corporate Governance
• Keith Dargie, Director of Human Resources (MS Teams)

Apologies:

None

Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and no apologies were issues. 

Chair asked if the board was happy with the minutes of the previous meeting. The board discussed this and were happy to approve. 

The Chair moved on to updates on Actions to be dealt with. There was one action to be dealt with which regarded Risk Management which was to be discussed during Agenda Item 4. 

The Crown Agent and Chief Executive introduced the Crown Agent and Chief Executive's report (SB0925 (3.1)). First was the review of Sexual Offences which has been concluded and recommendations given to the Lord Advocate. It was noted that one of the issues, the creation of a division to only deal with sexual offences, would cause an increase in rigidity within COPFS as with the current structure there is more flexibility to offer support to sexual offences from other areas. This has been mentioned to the Lord Advocate. All recommendations in this review have begun to be fed into existing work. 

Next was the amended time limits for pandemic cases. Acknowledged there is challenges but is confident this can be dealt with as current trends are moving in a positive direction. Will provide a further update at the December meeting. The board held general discussion were happy with what was presented. 

The Crown Agent and Chief Executive then discussed the changes in senior staffing within COPFS. Yvette Green will be joining as the Chief Operating Officer. Other senior positions have also been filled. Lindsey Miller, the current Deputy Crown Agent, will also be taking on the role of Director of Local Courts. Katrina Parkes is taking on the role of Director of High Court. Laura Buchan is taking on the role of Director of Specialist Casework. Stephen McGowan is continuing their role as Director of Public Inquiries and Litigation. They confirmed that there the last remaining senior posts will be filled. There was also confirmation that there will be investigation into how to make paths of progression clearer within COPFS along with creating a consistency across the various bands as there has been a disparity noticed between staff members of the same band level doing the same job. 

Director of Strategy then gave an overview of the Business Function Plans. It focused on increasing the narrative the plans going forward as it was acknowledged that there needs to be modernisation in how we work and how this can contribute to the criminal justice system. The Plan covers the rest of this year however does not investigate the next financial year which will be done after suggestions are put out to the Board for consideration. The board held discussion regarding these points with agreement that the discussion of using AI could be an action for a future meeting.

The Head of Corporate Governance then introduced the Performance Report (SB0925 (3.2)). Mentioned it is still being improved upon and feedback from the Board is appreciated. Explained it is measuring overall performance, looking at year to date targets as well as noting where the data is sourced from. The Board discussed areas of improvement for the Report such as the narrative being more in depth and historical trends being included to allow for better comparisons. These requests were noted and will be fed back upon during the next meeting.

ACTION: At December meeting look into more on the end of pandemic timelines. Katrina Parkes will be invited to discuss this.

The Head of Business Services joined the meeting via Microsoft Teams to give an overview of the Risk Management paper (SB0925 (4.1)). Explained the paper is to align risk management with business needs and to begin modernising it.  It is aimed to be more dynamic allowing it to respond to issues more flexibly. Confirmed the next steps will be the Leadership Board taking into consideration this paper and then will come back to the Strategic Board with any further updates. Chair thanked the Head of Business Services for their time. 

Head of Corporate Governance introduced the Strategic Board Terms of Reference (SB0925 (5.1)). The Board held general discussion noting improvements could be made to the layout and clarity over certain areas. Agreement in accepting the Terms of Reference otherwise. 

David Watt introduced the annual report from the Audit and Risk Committee (SB0925 (6.1)) which was noted to be the first report brought before the Strategic Board. The report pulls together the remit of ARC. Acknowledges the report will look different next year due to taking on the recommendations from this year's report. Noted that the Terms of Reference will be updated during the November ARC meeting and will be fed back at the next Strategic Board meeting. There was general discussion with the Board and they were happy with the report with no further recommendations. 

David Watt introduced the meeting papers from the Audit and Risk Committee (SB0925 (7.1)). There was general discussion of the papers, and no issues were found.

For other items of business the Chair suggested with the establishment of the Strategic Board and Leadership Board would it be wise to have a joint meeting of the boards at some point. There was also a request for the Crown Agent’s report to be more detailed for the next meeting. These points were agreed to.

ACTION: Investigate possibility of a Joint Meeting between the Strategic and Leadership Boards.