Loveday Ryder: Programme Director

Paul McGladrigan: HMCTS Head of Crime North West

Nazir Afzal: Chief Crown Prosecutor CPS North West

Efficiency Programme

The Vision

Case paperwork printed

by the CPS and courts

service amounts to

approximately 160 million

sheets of paper a year.

routine use of

digital case files in

criminal justice

proceedings

Over 800,000 prisoner

escorts for court

appearances in 2012/13

– many could be heard

over video.

minimise the

unnecessary

movement of people

around the system

Our aims

• A digital courtroom

– undertaking hearings,

including trials, using

digital files rather than

paper.

• Increased utilisation

of video technology

– minimising the

unnecessary

movement of people in

the CJS.

A snapshot of national level progress

• 90% of all case files are transported

electronically by Police forces to CPS

with paper by exception.

• 100% magistrates’ courts are able to

receive digital case files from the CPS.

• 100% of CPS areas are transferring

information for pre-sentence reviews

electronically to the National Offender

Management Service.

• 100% of Witness Care units and are

working digitally, negating the need to

print, store and ultimately dispose of

case files.

• 75% of cases in some CPS areas are

already being presented electronically

• 2 million messages a month sent

over Criminal Justice Secure eMail

• Although 65% of Defence

Practitioner contract holders with

the Legal Aid Agency have a secure

e-mail account – usage remains

low.

• 7,000 cases approx are dealt with

annually by the virtual courts in

London, Cheshire, Kent and

Hertfordshire, and nearly 400 police

hours have been saved – though

there is much more scope for

savings in police time.

• 32,500 prison to court video

hearings between June and

December 2012, saved time,

money, and reduced risk and

disruption.

What’s worked well

• Cross-agency working – a true CJS Partnership approach – acting in the interests

of the system

• Focussing on developing a concept court. Demonstrating results builds buy-in!

• Generating energy and momentum nationally and locally for change

Lessons

• Engagement with the defence community needs early and clear messaging on the

necessity and potential benefits of engagement with the emerging digital CJS

• Getting all the parts of the system to pull in the same direction, at a time of

significant change – is a complex task

• Introducing digital processes won’t solve underlying problems with file build quality

but DO present opportunities to work in partnership on solutions

The next 12 months

• Securing investment for technology:

• a robust data store

• in-court web connectivity

• in-court presentation in the magistrates’ court

• a digital solution for the Crown Court

• Agree an aggressive timeline for delivery to meet minister’s expectations

• Drive up the utilisation of video technology across the system for all allowable

hearing types and meetings, where it represents a smarter way of working

• Manage the business change required to support the move to in-court digital

working

• Harness the potential of a digitally enabled courtroom

So how is it making a difference?

North West of England – a case study

CPS (Nazir Afzal)

HMCTS (Paul McGladrigan)

NW CPS

• Real progress made in digitally linking up the CPS and Police;

• For example 2nd version of two way interface (TWIF) implemented November 2011, delivering range of benefits including:

– Reduced re-keying of information already entered in one system;

– Pre-charge decisions and post charge action plans returned to Police electronically and without need for manual intervention;

– Electronic material is created earlier in a case lifecycle;

– Police have saved c. 14,630 hours via the introduction of TWIF, or 1,800 working days.

NW CPS

• Enhanced support for Witness Care Units with witness information supplied before charge and all systems have the most up to date witness information digitally. A change of witness details in any one of the systems updates the others automatically;

• Police staff no longer need to upload emails into their case management systems;

• Digital file build the norm and automatic transfers between case management systems;

• Files are necessarily finalised on the Police system when the result is entered into the CPS system;

• Without TWIF its impossible to produce a full electronic case file in any case that has CCTV, digital interviews, photos etc. (almost all cases these days!).

NW CPS

• GMP working with other forces to develop digital repositories for video and audio and to record interviews digitally;

• TWIF will then provide links to enable prosecutors to access things directly from their desktops;

• CPS NW also early test bed for in court digital hearings for guilty plea cases at Trafford Magistrates Courts;

• informed move towards full adoption across the Region and other Regions of prosecutors working digitally in court from tablet devices

• In Greater Manchester alone, today there are over 100 prosecutors who present cases from tablet devices in the Magistrates Courts

• By end of 2013 an Evidence management System will be in place, hosted on a G-cloud and enabling Complex Casework Unit cases to be managed digitally;

• Common digital file seen as the future for Crown Court cases and will be trialled in Croydon soon;

• Strategic aim is to have a Common Platform linking us and HMCTS to eradicate double keying and fully support the sharing of a single information source.

NW HMCTS

• Cheshire Virtual Court pilot

• defendants dealt with while in Police custody suite - cutting out costly transportation to court

• currently deals with c. 60% of all Cheshire overnight remand cases

• Prison to Court Video Links

• again, avoids the need to transport remand prisoners to court

• Liverpool Crown Court and Manchester & Salford Magistrates Court are national best-practice centres in relation to PCVL utilisation

• Liverpool QEII centre recently handled early hearings for a 21 handed drugs case through PCVL – achieved cost savings and minimised security risks

NW HMCTS

• Merseyside Magistrates Courts one of the first in the country to be working digitally to ‘the point of the court door’ for first hearings;

• established the platform for in-court digital hearings in the not too distant future

• very good example of agencies working together locally to address blockers and adopt an end to end CJS view of the potential benefits

• Merseyside now an Early Adopter Area for the CJS Efficiency Programme;

• National test bed for a range of initiatives that underpin the Programme’s pace;

• for example, overnight remand cases where digital-file-build needs to be carried out rapidly

• also, digital case management form which is critical to effective case management and avoiding adjournments

HMCTS nationally

• And looking ahead both for the NW and nationally

• Testing a vision of the future through a ‘concept court’