Criminal Justice Programme Board minutes: February 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Willie Cowan (Deputy Chair and TCP 3 Senior Responsible Owner (SRO), Scottish Government (SG))
• Anna Donald (TCP 1 SRO, SG)
• Denise Swanson (Incoming TCP 3 SRO, SG)
• Ruth McCallum (TCP 3 Programme Manager, SG)
• Fiona Cameron (TCP 3 Programme Director, SG)
• Gemma Fraser (Community Justice Scotland (CJS))
• (D)Lynne Barrie (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS))
• Patrick Campbell (Police Scotland)
• Kenneth McGeough (Police Scotland)
• Marie-Louise Fox (Scottish Legal Aid Boar (SLAB))
• Dene Burke (Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS))
• David Fraser (SCTS)
• Mike Milligan (SCTS)
• (D)Sharanne Findlay (Scottish Prison Service (SPS))
• (D)Jennifer Cameron (SPS)
• Scott Ross (Scottish Police Authority (SPA))
• Naomi Gregg (Head of Justice PMO, SG)
• Karl Champion (Senior Officer PMO, SG)
• Allan Wells (Strategy and Performance Manager, SG)

*(D) denotes deputy

Apologies

• Cat Dalrymple (Chair, SG)
• Amy Wilson (Head of Justice Analytical Services (JAS), SG)
• ACC Wendy Middleton (Police Scotland)
• Tina Angus (Police Scotland)
• Jennifer Harrower (COPFS)
• Linda Pollock (SPS)
• Karyn McCluskey (CJS)

Items and actions

Agenda

1    Welcome and introductions 
2    Key notes and actions
3    Action and decision log review 
4    Transformational Change Programme (TCP) 1 highlight report update
5    TCP 3 highlight report update 
6    Body Worn Video (BWV) presentation
7    System Health Check project
8    Target Operating Model (TOM) workshop update
9    Communication of key information
10  Any other business (AOB)

Welcome and introductions

The Deputy Chair opened the meeting and welcomed board members to the ninth meeting of the Criminal Justice Programme Board. The Deputy Chair also highlighted the upcoming change in Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for TCP 3 and introduced them to the board.

Key notes and actions

The previous key notes and actions were circulated 21 November, no comments or feedback were received so these were considered agreed and signed off.

Action and decision log review

5-0908 – All to review refreshed terms of reference (ToR) on receipt and provide feedback.
On hold until the board agrees the action plan in the Board Evolution Report produced last summer, to be discussed under AOB.

4-0811 – TCP 1 SRO to work up suggestions on victim engagement into future proposals for the board to consider.
This will be covered under AOB.

6-0811 – To have a further discussion on whether the Virtual Custody project should be in the scope of TCP 3.
The current position is that Virtual Custody does not sit under TCP 3. The completion of the terms of reference (ToR) and business case for this project will help to inform this decision, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) agreed to present these at the next board meeting in April. 

Action 1-2102 – SCTS to present draft ToR and draft business case for the Virtual Custody project to the board at the next meeting.

Board members discussed virtual custody and whether there was a plan to increase the number of custody courts. There are no such plans at this time, but it will be taken into consideration following the successful introduction of virtual custody courts. Members raised the need to consider financial and resource implications for the handling of prisoners as is currently outlined in the pilot. There was also a discussion around the decision to transport prisoners from police custody to court where only around 10% are then held on remand. How decisions could be taken sooner around the likelihood of accused being held on remand and therefore avoid unnecessary prisoner transport.

The Deputy Chair raised a question around what the intention is regarding appearances from prison custody as opposed to police custody on a routine basis and whether this is actively being looked at as part of a future Target Operating Model (TOM). SCTS conceded that this is not under active consideration but will form a key part of the future system.

TCP 1 highlight report update

The TCP 1 SRO talked through the programme highlight report. The current RAG status of the programme is amber because some projects within the programme have stalled and are revisiting their implementation approach. One project has been paused due to lack of Scottish Government  (SG) resource. Progress to establish new feedback loops has slowed. 

Key programme progress has seen:

• Victims Taskforce met and agreed priorities for relevant projects 
• draft Budget for 2024-2025 supports key projects including capital allocation for expanding pre-recorded evidence capability, continued consultancy from NHS Educations for Scotland (NES) and FirstWord and allocation to Community Justice Scotland (CJS) for Restorative Justice
• reviewed membership of project groups 
• three projects undertaking planning activity to align with the new financial year
• analytical work to consider monitoring and performance approaches taken by the projects alongside longer-term considerations for the development of a victim experience survey
• SCTS continue work to improve the court user survey

Two projects are in a joint governance arrangement with Victims Taskforce. Through the taskforce, victim support organisations – and those they represent – can directly inform the work of these projects. These projects are around trauma-informed workforce and implementation of the trauma-informed knowledge and skills framework as well as communication with victims and witnesses.

The victim impact statement workstream is currently paused partly due to lack of resourcing in SG and partly because of dependency with the victim and witness gateway in being developed by Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). However, there is an existing commitment to expand the use of statements and explore different ways people can give a statement. The project offered support to partners with the implementation of trauma-informed work and communication with victims and witnesses.

Action 2-2102 - Board members to approach TCP 1 SRO around support to shape projects to ensure they are person centred and trauma informed.

A report on the pre-recorded evidence project was laid before parliament in December. The project has committed to publishing a forward look implementation plan by the end of March 2024 with a view to full roll out by the end of April 2026. 

Action 3-2102 – TCP 1 SRO to share the implementation plan for the Trauma Informed Justice for Victims and Witness Framework with the board.

Action 4-2102 – TCP 1 SRO to check if the original business case for the Implementation of the Trauma Informed Justice for Victims and Witnesses Framework project aligns with the roll out plan.

CJS are still working on the policy framework for the Restorative Justice project and have been engaging with people who have been harmed and experienced serious harm. They have also developed a self evaluation framework to measure their feelings around choice and engagement and are looking to develop the project definition into a business case.

Action 5-2102 – CJS to send TCP 1 SRO self evaluation framework tool to enable implementation of the feedback loop.

Action 6-2102 – TCP 1 SRO and project leads to evolve project highlight reports to accurately capture period and clarify milestones.

The board discussed the lack of data around victim contact with police and the need to look into the reasons why cases fail and the high level of victim disengagement. It is important that contact with victims is done in a trauma-informed way and that individuals are not overwhelmed with requests for feedback. There needs to be a coherent strategy for engagement where individuals have a single point of contact.

The Deputy Chair summarised that everything done to reduce journey times has to be done in the context of trauma-informed practices. More than a process improvement, this needs to be a service improvement.

TCP 3 highlight report update

The TCP 3 Programme Manager talked through the programme highlight report. The current RAG status of the programme is amber due to the programme not acting as a unified programme and not aligning to the outcome of reducing journey times.

Key programme progress has seen:

• most projects have a basic baseline set of information which is being reported to the programme
• work is undergoing to re-focus the programme on reducing journey times and aligning the project outcomes
• this will mean mapping all the projects in scope to this outcome
• doing this may result in a change of programme scope as a result
• Body Worn Video (BWV) and Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) are in the process of being aligned in terms of national rollout
• Summary Case Management (SCM) has moved to Glasgow without DESC
• a TOM workshop is planned for 8 March and there will be a presentation at the board as to what is to be expected at the workshop and the contribution from each organisation
• challenges continue to exist around the data needed to monitor the outcome sought for the programme - a workshop with the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) is to be held on 29 February around the definition of a healthy system and the data to monitor this

The TCP 3 Programme Manager presented the live operational metrics dashboard which captures the data available to SG and how the lack of data around journey makes it difficult to understand what could be better. This is being taken forward under the System Health Check project. A proof of concept paper was shared with the board shortly before the meeting and presented by the Programme Director. There was no appetite to agree to the paper as the business case wasn’t apparent.

The programme highlight report now includes data on court backlogs and the case marking backlog. The intention is to make this more data rich in future to drill into the problem areas.

The board discussed the need for the programme to be data driven and to identify indicators to measure success. The need for business cases that properly identify impact and benefits was also discussed, this will be crucial in order to develop a projection for the future improvements projects will deliver. The projects which will have the greatest impact on journey times need to be monitored closely to ensure they deliver the anticipated benefits. The data available across the system should be accessible to all partners.

Action 7-2102 – SCTS to provide access to internal protocol reports to TCP 3 colleagues.

Action 8-2102 – COPFS and Police Scotland to share weekly data regarding journey times and case marking.

The board talked about the need to make system-level decisions on what we change, on what scale and in which order. There is a gap in terms of what we want to achieve on an individual project level and there is not enough focus on unintended consequences of projects.

Action 9-2102 – TCP 3 Programme Director to draft a paper on re-defining TCP 3 to focus on journey times and share the draft with programme board for input before it goes to CJB.

There was a discussion on the need to change the culture around early guilty pleas. The defence need to be on board with this, and the Section 76 fee has gone some way to improving this. The impact on the legal profession has to be considered.

Action 10-2102 – SG colleagues to share plans on future capacity of the legal profession.

Body Worn Video (BWV) presentation

Police Scotland delivered a presentation on BWV. BWV for firearms officers has been a success but there is a challenge around evidence management and the lack of a cloud-based digital solution. A full business case for BWV has been taken through governance and was recently approved by the SPA. We need to ensure that the processes are there to support BWV rollout and ensure that it is working efficiently. The intention is for BWV and DESC projects to work together and for BWV to immediately follow DESC as it rolls out nationally. This will be done in a phased approach starting in Summer 2024. The first phase will see all front line officers and custody staff equipped with BWV and the initial deployment will be for video and audio recording only, no live streaming or facial recognition technology.

Scottish Prison Service (SPS) are also rolling out BWV for prison staff and that data would be ingested into DESC in the same way as public data.

There will be work going forward to measure cases where BWV was shared with COPFS and what the outcome of the case was in order to assess the impact of BWV.

System Health Check project

A proof of concept proposal was circulated ahead of the meeting. There are costs associated with this and the TCP 3 Programme Director presented the paper to seek a discussion on funding.

SG had discussions with a police force in England around the system they use for their victim and witness gateway. The supplier has offered to do a pre-sales demonstration to show how this could work in Scotland. There is an opportunity with the pre-sales demonstration to demonstrate potential approach for Scotland where the unique system allows for a more joined up approach. The proposal is that this will be taken to CJB for discussion, but it needs the programme board’s backing. 

The proof of concept does not include community justice data but it could be expanded to include wider data such as community justice at a further point. It would also need to determine how the data will be shared and accessed.

Action 11-2102 - Link this initiative in with the current work Victims Taskforce are doing. 

Action 12-2102 – Police Scotland to share paper on datasets with TCP 3 Programme Director.

The board discussed the need for clarity on the business case to enable discussion and any potential approval, especially given the current financial context. Changes in the justice system are placing pressure on things like the legal aid fund, this needs to be considered when presenting a business case. It is recognised that current issues in the justice system emphasise the need for communication to be better. SG believe there is a strong financial case behind this initiative, a police force in England have been able to demonstrate significant savings from implementing this type of solution.

Action 13-2102 – TCP 3 Programme Director to provide the board with the business case for the proposal.

Target Operating Model (TOM) workshop update

This item will go to board members via correspondence due to time pressures.

Communication of key information

This item will go to board members via correspondence due to time pressures.

Any other business

TCP 1 SRO reminded the board of the Board Evolution summary report and the need for volunteers to champion the following action areas:

• system capability 
• targets 
• risk
• scope
• prioritisation
• stakeholder engagement 
• communication

Action 14-2102 – Board members to re-read the paper and respond to the Annex within by 18 March so that progress can be made with strengthening the board by drafting a new ToR.

The Deputy Chair highlighted upcoming meetings and workshops:

• CJB on Friday 23 February
• data workshop with CJB members on 29 February
• TOM Workshop on 8 March 

Board members would like to formally recognise and record their thanks for all of Willie Cowan’s contributions throughout his career at Scottish Government and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.