8 Relations with Criminal Justice Partners
The Highlands and Islands Area in its current Business Plan states that each District Office has significant local liaison responsibilities with the Area Office playing a pivotal role in many pan Area Groups.
The principal stakeholders identified in the plan are Northern Constabulary and the Scottish Court Service Area North with close contact with the judiciary and Scottish Prison Service. Liaison extends to the local criminal justice board which has introduced a number of strands to facilitate access to justice in an effective, speedy and relevant way in terms of community needs.
During the latter part of 2007 the Highlands and Islands Area participated in an area wide joint community consultation process where over 5,000 questionnaires were sent at random to members of the public throughout the Highlands and Islands.
Close contact was maintained with voluntary organisations such as Victim Support Scotland and Women's Aid.
The plan speaks of contact with solicitors practising in the criminal courts maintained by participation in local court advisory and liaison groups.
Liaison is maintained at several levels with the Highland Council and Island authorities, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, NHS Highland and the University of the Highlands and Islands. The plan envisaged that the Area Team would have a particular interest in diversity issues at large and aimed to build on the success with learning, disabled and Muslim communities in previous years. It was intended to further develop links with the Chinese and Polish communities.
Feedback
Chapter 5 dealt with service to victims and witnesses and included feedback from some criminal justice partners on these issues.
However, in order to obtain as wide an input as possible from criminal justice partners and others a large number of individuals and organisations were contacted to seek their views. A large number did so and the following is a brief résumé of input received from them.
Sheriffs
Contact was made with various Sheriffs throughout the Highlands and Islands.
Detailed input was received from 4 Sheriffs covering a wide geographical area including Dornoch, Inverness, Lerwick, Lochmaddy and Wick.
In Inverness relations with the local Procurator Fiscal's Office were described as good as indeed were relations between the bench and the bar.
The issue of disclosure was described as not really being a problem with a high percentage of cases being resolved at the first diet. The only minor criticism was that it seemed difficult for the Crown to estimate the length of trials and the number of witnesses required.
At Lerwick it was stated that any areas of concern would be raised with the local Procurator Fiscal's Office and normally these would be easily resolved. There was some criticism of prosecution policy in certain cases being too fixed and rigid.
There was also some comment on the standard of paperwork particularly the production of previous convictions in an intelligible form. There was also some concern expressed about the drop in the level of criminal business following the introduction of direct measures and the expansion of police fixed penalties.
Overall though although there were some issues, the Sheriff in Lerwick and Kirkwall was content with co-operation of the Fiscal's Office and that lines of communication were good.
At Wick and Lochmaddy relations between the bench, the Sheriff Clerks and the Procurator Fiscal's Office were good with all parties working well together to keep the courts running efficiently and well.
There was some regret expressed at the downgrading of the Procurator Fiscal post at Wick (a Senior Depute has been appointed at Wick since the time of our inspection).
On the whole there appeared to be no problems with disclosure with no adjournments being due to a failure by the Crown to disclose. Indeed it was unusual for cases to be adjourned because of lack of court time, cases were generally adjourned because of witness problems. There were good local arrangements for fixing trials to accord with police leave and to putting police officers on standby and not having to "hang" around the court all day.
At Dornoch the Sheriff in addition to Dornoch covers Tain and Stornoway. There was again some concern expressed about the possibility of Wick not being permanently manned (a Senior Depute has been appointed at Wick since the time of our inspection) and concern that Stornoway might suffer the same fate. One disadvantage in not having a local Fiscal is that Deputes seem frequently unwilling to make decisions and that there could be a loss of local knowledge. Some concern was also expressed over the legislative requirements for special measures for vulnerable witnesses having to be applied irrespective of the circumstances of the particular case.
So far as disclosure was concerned the turnover in the courts did cause some problems for the Crown in complying with requests although it was felt that having the same Fiscal taking the intermediate and trial diets meant that cases were well prepared in sense of ownership.
Sheriff Clerks
Dingwall
The relationship between the Sheriff Clerk's Office and the Procurator Fiscal's Office at Dingwall were described as good. Any difficulties that might arise were resolved quickly.
The Sheriff Clerk's perception of court preparation by the Crown was good.
Court programming in Dingwall was not described as a problem with any problems being resolved quickly on an ad hoc basis.
The electronic link between the two offices was described as having caused problems and this could be exacerbated by the fact that the Sheriff Clerk's Office was small. There had also been some teething problems with the newly introduced fiscal fines/conditional offers in particular with the electronic transfer of information.
Inverness
The Sheriff Clerk at Inverness described relations with the local Procurator Fiscal as very good.
In addition to direct contact there were a number of formal liaison groups including the Court Users Group which is chaired by the senior Sheriff. This meets quarterly and is a good local forum although discussion tends to be dominated by the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff Clerk.
Informal contact was also very good with frequent discussion of protocols regarding court loadings.
Court loading was an issue and had necessitated an increase in the number of trials to 13 per trial court.
The plea rate at the intermediate diet courts was described as successful at approximately 40% of cases. The Procurator Fiscal makes himself available at court on the afternoon before to discuss pleas with the defence.
The Sheriff and Jury sitting is held once per month with one week pencilled in for the sitting and deals with approximately 6 or 7 cases. The Procurator Fiscal who deals with the jury trials was particularly adept at getting pleas at the first diet which obviated the need for witnesses to attend for the trials. Preparation was described as first class.
Relationships generally between the Sheriff Clerk's Office and the Fiscal's Office were described as good. Any problems were brought to the attention of the Procurator Fiscal and relations were described as having improved greatly over the years.
There was, however, a problem described on the availability of police witnesses. There was a system for colour coding shift patterns but this did not always work well in practice. Previously the police had an officer in court to check availability prior to trials being fixed but that had been withdrawn by the police.
So far as the achievement of targets was concerned there was open discussion between the Sheriff Clerk and the District Fiscal and both parties tried to assist each other with the achievement of targets.
Summary Justice Reform and the unification of the courts had been extensively discussed with an expected increase in the number of undertakings as a result. It was expected that both offices would be able to cope with this.
Some concern was expressed over special measures and the involvement of VIA which was described as at times causing the Sheriff Clerk some difficulty. However things had improved with improvement in the IT system in particular remote access to results having cut reliance by VIA on Sheriff Clerk's staff for results.
Communications and relations between the two offices were described as very good and much improved on previous years with joint training being considered.
Lerwick
Relations between the Sheriff Clerk's Office and the local Procurator Fiscal's Office were described as good with both having an open door policy. Both offices being housed in the same building assisted in this regard.
Court programming was discussed between the Sheriff Clerk and the Procurator Fiscal and there were regular meetings of the court users' group and the Scottish Court Service protocol meetings.
Changes had been made in the number of cases going through court as a result of Summary Justice Reform with a reduction in the number of diets. Court preparation by the Crown was described as very efficient and intermediate diets were well disposed of.
On the issue of disclosure no difficulties were reported.
So far as interpreters were concerned the Sheriff Clerk described the situation as adequate.
Overall everything was described as working well with good relations between the police, the Fiscal's Office and the Sheriff Clerk.
Stornoway
Relations between the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff Clerk at Stornoway were described as good.
The two offices shared the same Sheriff Court building which facilitates communication on a daily basis.
Disclosure was not described as being a problem with no cases having been put off because of non-disclosure.
Court programming was discussed between the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff Clerk and there were the various usual liaison meetings including the more formal protocol meeting.
The electronic link between the Fiscal's Office and the Sheriff Clerk was now described as working much better.
On the question of unification of the courts this was described as having gone smoothly particularly because of the very low volume dealt with by the District Court.
Wick
The Sheriff Clerk at Wick indicated that there were very good communications between her office and the local Procurator Fiscal's Office. The offices were adjacent in the same building and this facilitated communication.
The usual protocol meetings were held.
There was described a large increase in Sheriff and Jury cases since the introduction of the 5-year sentence. The cases were described as very well prepared with pleas often at the first diet.
So far as summary business was concerned Wick had been getting busier over the years with the trial court running at between 10 and 12 trials per trial day. Targets were generally met. Court programming was addressed at the protocol meetings and various pilots had been tried to discover what worked best.
The unification of the courts had created an anticipation of extra work particularly administrative work.
When it came to fixing summary trials police leave was taken into account and the system appeared to work well.
A likely increase in the number of undertakings as a result of Summary Justice Reform had been considered and it was likely that the current programme would be able to accommodate this.
The IT link between the Procurator Fiscal's Office and the Sheriff Clerk's Office was described as having on occasions caused problems.
There was reported some initial start up problems with the Vulnerable Witnesses Act revisions but remote sites had now been provided.
The local Area had big Polish and Philippino communities but the Sheriff Clerk indicated that she did not have any great problems in accessing interpreters. She had run Polish awareness training and opened this up to criminal justice partners.
On the question of disclosure she reported that this did not seem to have caused a problem with cases in Wick.
Overall relations were described as good with both parties trying to help each other out.
District Clerks
Dingwall
The Clerk at Dingwall also covers the court at Tain.
Relations with the Procurator Fiscal's Office were described as good.
The quality of work was described as good with the Fiscals being particularly courteous with good relations with the defence. Lots of discussions taking place before the courts.
It was felt that input by the Procurator Fiscal on Justice's training would be beneficial and this had happened in the past.
Fort William
Relations between the District Court staff and the Procurator Fiscal staff were described as good with Crown preparations for the District Courts thorough with consistently professional standards in court.
Inverness
The District Clerk at Inverness covers courts in Inverness, Nairn and Kingussie.
Liaison with the Procurator Fiscal's Office was described by the Clerk as good with both parties getting on well together.
Meetings were held when necessary rather than formal liaison arrangements. In recent times there had been a focus on the transitional arrangements for unification of the courts.
In Inverness there was no difficulty in obtaining the services of JPs and they sat singly. In Kingussie and Nairn on the other hand in order to obtain experience a bench of 3 sits.
The Procurator Fiscal usually got involved in JP training.
The loading of the court was described as not being a problem with the bulk of the work now being out of court in the form of conditional offers and fine collection. Hope was expressed that the new regime with the unification of the courts would mean that the JPs would get better quality of work.
Arrangements were well in hand in order to facilitate the unification of the courts. It was likely that the courts at Nairn and Kingussie would be closed.
The Clerk was not aware of any groundswell of complaints regarding the standard of prosecution in the District Courts but his experience was somewhat limited.
Lochaber
It was reported that the JPs in the Lochaber area were happy with the service provided by the Procurator Fiscal. The only adverse comment was when the local Fiscal was not available and the replacement did not seem so well prepared.
In the past the local Procurator Fiscal had attended JP training sessions and it was hoped to continue this in the future.
Stornoway
Relations between the Fiscal's Office in Stornoway and the District Court Clerk's Office were described as good.
The District Office was working well with Crown preparation being very good.
On the question of court programming there was communication regarding this and any issues would be resolved.
Police
Dingwall
Relations between the police and the Procurator Fiscal in the Dingwall area were described as very good. A Police Superintendent stationed at Dingwall dealt with the Fiscal's Offices at Dingwall, Fort William, Stornoway and Tain and relations across all these offices were described as very good.
In particular it was indicated that there were good links with support staff in the various Fiscal's Offices with a flow of information between the parties.
Although there could be differences of opinion at times there was open and frank discussion of each party's point of view.
Joint training existed with the Procurator Fiscal's Office including a mix of Fiscal Deputes and police officers of all ranks attending a full day's training. This had provided very good feedback. It was described as very good for building up relations between the parties. The Area Fiscal was described as keen to expand on joint training.
Fort William
The Lochaber police division which includes Fort William covers a vast area with some specific policing problems such as a large influx of tourists for organised events in the area.
The police office is situated directly next to the court building and although there are no formal standby arrangements unofficial standby arrangements exist for police witnesses. The police duty rota was normally taken into account when fixing summary trials. However, the High Court was cited as a problem area for clashing with police duties. As an experiment the citation and countermanding of police was now done by e-mail and this appeared to be working well.
Local liaison between the police, Fiscal's Office and other criminal justice partners was good with an active court liaison group.
In addition to that there were specific meetings between the police and the Procurator Fiscal although informal contact was always available to iron out any particular difficulties.
On the question of Summary Justice Reform the police felt in a good position to deal with this as one of their officers was involved in the original training package with Crown Office colleagues. The expected increase in the number of undertakers should be accommodated and cases which might previously have had to be custodies could now be treated as undertakers. In addition the police were starting to make increased use of police fixed penalties.
Liaison on the quality of police reports was good with a form attached to the police reports to enable the Fiscal to feed back any problems directly to the police.
Overall relationships between the police and the local Procurator Fiscal were described as positive and constructive with good communication both on a formal and informal basis.
Inverness
Feedback was obtained from senior staff at Force Headquarters and from the Inverness Police Area Command Team.
At a strategic level meetings took place every two months and this enabled problems to be addressed over the whole area.
The Criminal Justice Board had a working group which from a police perspective worked well.
The approach now was described as much more "joined up". This was true across a number of fronts including the recent appointment of a Diversity Police Officer in which Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service had an input.
The relationship with the Fiscal's Office was described as very good with a lot of data sharing taking place. For example decisions to take no proceedings together with the reasons why were given to Divisional Commanders to avoid repetition of any mistakes.
Preparations were well in hand for Summary Justice Reform including the increased likely use of undertakers. It was felt that these new powers would be helpful to the police. A big change over the following year was anticipated with fewer cases going to court.
All cases reported to the Procurator Fiscal anywhere in the area are processed through Inverness. From the police perspective this seems to work well and any problems are ironed out locally.
Relationships in Inverness itself with the local Procurator Fiscal's Office were described as good with the 28 day target for reporting cases currently being met. The issue of police fixed penalties was helping to free up police time. There was some criticism, however, of a failure to provide feedback locally. There was also some criticism of a failure to adequately deal with persistent offenders, domestic violence cases and breaches of bail. Despite these particular comments overall a good working relationship was described between the police in Inverness itself and the local Fiscal's Office.
Lerwick
A problem for the police at Lerwick is the state of the local jobs market with the oil industries able to pay higher salaries than the public sector.
Liaison with the local Fiscal's Office was described as good with, for example, standby arrangements being on offer for officers due to testify in court.
The two offices were close and meetings frequent.
Contact was both formal and informal.
Relations with other criminal justice partners were also described as good.
Attendance by the Fiscal at various local groups was also described as good including the Racist Incidents Panel, the Child Protection Committee, the Drugs and Alcohol team and the Sex Offenders Management Group.
There had been problems in the past manning the Fiscal's Office but the placing of a Depute in Lerwick had resulted in a huge improvement from the police point of view.
Summary Justice Reform had already had an impact on the number of cases being reported to the Fiscal. The police were pushing fixed penalties and other options available to them. It was thought this was working appropriately.
There was a high immigrant population in the area mainly from the Baltic States and this frequently called for the use of an interpreter. This was described as not being a problem.
Stornoway
Relations between the police in Stornoway and the local Fiscal's Office were described as very good with the Department having open door policies and the Fiscal being particularly approachable and accommodating.
Initiatives and cases were planned jointly and an example was given of a high profile Fatal Accident Inquiry involving good liaison.
Communication both formal and informal was described as being good, any issues which might arise would be resolved quickly.
Defence Lawyers
Contact was made with a prominent defence lawyer in Inverness.
He described from his perspective the quality of Crown Advocacy to be good with no problems of any note from the defence's point of view.
In particular disclosure was described as not being a problem apart from the wider national problem of meeting deadlines in custody cases.
Communications were also described as good with the opportunity to discuss cases. In particular a Depute was made available the day before the court to discuss possible pleas at the Sheriff Court.
Overall relations between the Procurator Fiscal's Office and the local Bar were described as good.
Reporters to the Children's Panel
Highlands
Input was received from the Reporter responsible for the Highlands (but not the Islands).
Overall relations between his office and that of the Procurator Fiscal in the Area were described as very good.
In particular the Area Fiscal was a member of the Child Protection Committee and a District Fiscal sits on the Youth Justice Strategic Group and also on the Child Protection Lead Officer Group.
There was a lot of communication regarding high profile or parallel proceedings cases. Contact was made with both the Area and the District Fiscal in Inverness.
Relations with the various Procurators Fiscal were described as always constructive.
In the case of jointly reported cases (ie to both the Fiscal and the Reporter) there was a problem of police reporting inappropriately cases to the Fiscal which should be reported only to the Reporter but discussions on these with the Procurator Fiscal were described as good.
Some joint training had taken place with presentations by both the Reporter and the District Fiscal at Dingwall.
Unruly certificates were highlighted as a problem with a lack of secure beds in the Highlands for children.
On the question of 'special measures' the most appropriate methods were discussed with the Procurator Fiscal. There was some comment on the fallback position and in the absence of a reply the response of the Fiscal was to put everything in place. It was felt that perhaps more effort could be made in trying to make contact in the first place.
Fiscals and Reporters were being encouraged to look at joint precognition (ie interviewing) of children especially in serious cases.
Lerwick
The relationship between the Reporter at Lerwick and the local Procurator Fiscal was described as very good with helpful and informal contact being available.
In difficult cases such as the prosecution of an adult with children involved in the case the flow of information was described as very good between the two offices in particular regarding the imposition of bail conditions.
The attitude of the Procurator Fiscal was described as flexible and common sense.
The local Procurator Fiscal attended the Child Protection Committee when he could and his input was regarded as very valuable. The Fiscal was described as willing to take a look at the whole situation, the community issues and the wider ramifications and not simply a narrow legalistic approach. There was a request for more joint training if possible but input on an informal basis from the Procurator Fiscal was described as freely given and helpful.
Stornoway
The Reporter had only been in post for some months at the time of interview and described relations with the local Procurator Fiscal as very good with constructive discussions on a number of cases. Partnership working was the norm.
Generally the impression was that all the criminal justice partners locally work well together.
Thurso
Relations between the Reporter and the Procurator Fiscal at Wick was described as very positive with a good relationship between the parties. Communication was easy and informal.
There was a request for more joint training if possible with some indication given as to the method Fiscal's use to mark and prosecute cases.
The Procurator Fiscal was described as very alert to child protection issues with meaningful discussions taking place between the parties.
So far as the prosecution of children was concerned the process was described as working well.
Social Work
Inverness
Input was obtained from the Highland Council Social Work Services and the relationship with the Procurator Fiscal Service generally was described as very positive with regular meetings with the Area Fiscal in relation to:-
- Taking youth justice strategy forward
- Child protection
- MAPPA and adult protection
- Drug and alcohol strategy
Social Work staff in local offices were described as having good and effective working relationships with the Procurator Fiscal Service generally with an opportunity for joint training and child protection in relation to the criminal justice system.
Some joint training had been carried out on the Vulnerable Witnesses Act throughout the Highlands Area with the Procurator Fiscal Service represented and the Highland Child Protection Committee and the Lead Officer Group for Child Protection.
The contribution made by the Procurator Fiscal Service was described as valued particularly in relation to inter-agency working and the corporate parenting role within the Highlands Area.
Kirkwall
Input was obtained from the Youth Crime Review Group based in Kirkwall.
The local Fiscal is a member of the Youth Crime Review and attends meetings and her contributions were described as helpful. It was described to us that it was partly down to the Fiscal's involvement that there was an arrangement in Orkney where young people could be referred to the mediation and reparation scheme.
Relations were described as very positive and very helpful for example in the possible setting up of a local forensic mental health service and changes to the bail supervision protocol.
Shetland
For a view from the Islands input was obtained from the Social Work Department at Shetland.
The relationship between the Social Work Department at Shetland and the Procurator Fiscal's Office was described as over the years being very positive with regular contact in relation to individual cases. The Procurator Fiscal Service was represented on the different inter-agency partnerships and court user groups where individual working practices were discussed. There was a desire expressed however for greater joint working practices to be developed and for a more formal process for sharing information as helping to break down barriers and build stronger relationships. It would assist in giving the different services a greater understanding and appreciation of their different roles and responsibilities.
There was a diversion scheme in operation and a restorative justice scheme. The Procurator Fiscal Service made referrals for both schemes and was involved in the setting up of both. This was the main form of joint working between the parties and was described as valued by all the agencies involved.