This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
26/03/2004
The Solicitor General, Elish Angiolini QC has spoken to an audience of Scottish lawyers about the significant progress made by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) since the Lord Advocate announced the most wide-ranging programme of modernisation for a generation two years ago.
Speaking at the Annual Dinner of the Scottish Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Elish Angiolini said:
"Back in March 2002 the Lord Advocate made a commitment to improve the quality of service to the public, and to restore faith in the prosecution service.
"Since then, we have invested in people and technology to improve our ability to manage cases effectively and efficiently. We are working closer than ever with partners in the criminal justice system and we are committed to engaging with the communities we serve. These factors are helping us towards our goal of providing a 21st century prosecution service for the people of Scotland and are having a real impact on the work we do.
"We are beginning to see the evidence that these strong foundations are having a positive impact on our daily business of prosecution. We are now beginning to see improvements in the rate at which the most serious cases - in the High Court - are being disposed of.
"But much more is to come - we will continue to work with all our partners in the justice system to deliver further improvements through implementation of the proposals of Lord Bonomy, as well as improvements in the processing of summary criminal justice in light of the report of the Summary Justice Review Committee chaired by Sheriff John McInnes."