Criminal Justice Programme Board minutes: July 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Neil Rennick (Chair, Scottish Government (SG))
• Anna Donald (Deputy Director Criminal Justice, SG)
• Ruth McCallum (TCP 3 Programme Manager. SG)
• Lucy Gibbons (TCP 1 Programme Lead, SG)
• Amy Wilson (Head of Justice Analytical Services (JAS), SG)
• (D) Laura Hoskins (Community Justice Scotland (CJS))
• (D) Andrew Laing (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS))
• (D) Ainsley Boughen (Police Scotland)
• (D) Jon Millar (Police Scotland)
• (D) Kingsley Thomas (Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB))
• David Fraser (Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS))
• Aileen Horner (SCTS)
• Naomi Gregg (Head of Justice Portfolio Management Office (PMO), SG)
• Karl Champion (Senior Officer PMO, SG)

*(D) denotes deputy

Apologies

• Jennifer Harrower (COPFS)
• Keith Gardner (CJS)
• Karyn McCluskey (CJS)
• Sue Brookes (Scottish Prison Service (SPS))
• Rob Hay (Police Scotland)
• ACC Wendy Middleton (Police Scotland)
• Willie Cowan (Deputy Director Justice Transformation, SG)
• Fiona Cameron (SG)
• Marie-Louise Fox (SLAB)
• Frank Sandilands (SCTS)
• Mike Milligan (SCTS)

Items and actions

Agenda

1    Welcome and introductions 
2    Key notes and actions
3    Action and decision log review 
4    Actions from Criminal Justice Board
5    Transformational Change Programme (TCP) 3 update
6    TCP 1 update
7    TCP 3 – Virtual Domestic Abuse Model
8    TCP 3 – Summary Case Management Project deep dive 
9    Any other business

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed members to fourth meeting of the Criminal Justice Programme Board.

Key notes and actions

The Chair noted that key notes and actions were circulated following the last meeting. No comments/feedback were received from members so the key notes and actions are considered agreed by all.

Action and decision log review

The Chair highlighted some of the open actions, particularly the action around baseline information for projects and stressed the importance of this information. Members have agreed to provide baseline information ahead of the next board meeting.

Action 1-1207 – Partners to provide baseline information on all outstanding projects by the next board meeting on 9 August.

Scottish Government (SG) provided an update on action 9-1306, regarding connecting with the Operations and Analysis Group. Internal discussions have taken place to take this forward with Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) colleagues.

The Chair also noted that the Virtual Domestic Abuse Model presentation was postponed to a later board meeting.

Actions from Criminal Justice Board

The Chair highlighted two key actions from the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) meeting on 30 June:

• move TCP 3 primary focus to be journey times, including reducing case backlogs and taking into account any impact on other parts of the justice system
• assess whether any other transformational priorities which align with improving journey times should be added to the scope of TCP 3

SG confirmed that Justice Analytical Services (JAS) published full 2022-23 financial year data for journey times in June 2023 and plan for a full publication each year. They will also be looking to update metrics once per quarter using an interactive dashboard. Future reports will look at more stages of the journey to help understand where the pinch points are. Information up to July 2023 should be available within the next eight weeks.

The Chair added that the Public Audit Committee will be taking evidence from SCTS and SG and journey times will be part of that. The Chair also noted that Audit Scotland will update on the recommendations from their report in early 2024. The Chair asked members if there were any concerns around the asks from CJB, in particular if there are any other transformational priorities which align with improving journey times that should be added to the scope of TCP 3.
Attendees expressed no concerns and were in agreement with the recommendations from CJB.

TCP 3 update

The TCP 3 Programme Manager presented the programme highlight report. If TCP 3 is refocused around journey times the scope will change and projects need to be reassessed. The focus on journey times will be on user experience as well as efficiency and effectiveness. With this shift in focus, SG are currently seeking to understand if there are any projects across justice that should be removed or included in this programme, for example should Body Worn Video come in and National Custody Model come out. SG will come to the next board with a proposal.

Action 2-1207 – TCP 3 Programme Manager to propose amendments to programme scope given shift in focus for TCP 3 and present this at the next board meeting on 9 August.

SG highlighted the Summary Case Management (SCM) project as a key project within the programme and expressed concern around key stakeholder engagement and the ability of this board to monitor the project. In particular, the links between SCM and Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) operating in the same geographic area. The Virtual Summary Trials project undergoing re-definition offers an opportunity for this board to be involved in the shaping of the project. SG also noted the Virtual Custody Model is currently on hold due to resource challenges and this may temporarily be taken out of the programme. SG would welcome commitment from the board to develop the National Victim and Witness Gateway collaboratively.

The RAG status is still amber going to red due to a lack of project baseline information and clear scope. Additionally, milestones and resourcing need to be properly defined and there are challenges in producing a delivery plan.

COPFS are working on an initiative to apply more resource to case marking. The aim is to reduce the time taken for cases to be marked which will have an impact on reducing journey times. COPFS are happy to provide more information.

The Body Worn Video (BWV) project is on track and Police Scotland are happy to provide further detail. A project team has been stood up and this is in the tender process. The business case will go to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board by the end of the financial year with pilot rollout to commence mid-2024. This has implications on the Police Scotland infrastructure and the plan is to use DESC to bring BWV data across to COPFS. There will be large amounts of video data so system capacity needs to be monitored.

The Chair summarised that we are looking to assess the impact of this activity on the system as a whole. The Chair recognised there are different approaches to work across the programme and the challenge from Audit Scotland is that we need a clear basis for the transformation programme. The task for the board is to set an overall direction for the TCP and assess what impact these initiatives and developments are having. SGnoted that this programme needs to understand how projects are interacting and contributing to the overall outcome.

The Chair commended the significant impact of the case marking initiative on the volume of cases and asked if this will have an impact on the system and whether that is being assessed. COPFS worked with SCTS in terms of pandemic recovery planning and provided projections for new court business, noting that only around 40% of cases end up in court.

The Chair asked if the modelling work and monthly statistics from SCTS will impact on reducing the court backlog by the first half of 2024. SCTS are looking at this closely, the number of public holidays in April/May has had an impact and colleagues are currently assessing whether this is the case. SCTS agreed that the board should have more involvement and oversight of projects and recognised the difficulties that SG are facing and that better engagement is required from SCTS. There are a lot of interdependencies and it can be hard to assess exactly what is having an impact. SCM is a judiciary-led project and SCTS will be the link between judiciary and this board.

The Chair reiterated there is no intention for this board to interfere with senior judiciary decision making. However, it is important for the board to understand the measures for success for these projects. There needs to be a clear evidence base for how this fits into wider recovery and efficiency work.

SCTS agreed that the Virtual Custody Model needs discussion. This project has faltered due to resource pressures and SCTS don’t see the project restarting in the near future. The project should be removed from the programme until such a time as the project restarts. SG met with SCTS on Virtual Custody Model recently and agreed to look at immediate pressures and longer term options around prisoner transport. Board members agreed that the Virtual Custody Model project should be removed from the programme.

SG presented on the System Health Check project, noting a project initiation document is in development and will be brought to the board once ready. The proposal is to run the project in an agile way and bring in external expertise around data mapping. There is a six month timeline for discovery and alpha phases before progressing into a beta testing phase with live data. This will require a fair amount of resource from SG, JAS, justice partners etc. but there is potential to create a stronger link between organisations to deliver maximum benefits across the system. The proposed model will have a list of indicators to help understand the performance of the system as well as specific geographic areas. There will be an opportunity for the board to review the proposals once they are fully developed.

Action 3-1207 - TCP 3 programme team to draft PID for System Health Check and bring it to the board on 9 August.

TCP 1 update

The TCP 1 Programme Lead presented the programme highlight report. Project governance and implementation plans are being refreshed and the delivery confidence RAG is still amber. Draft implementation plans and evaluation status will be ready for review in September. Taking forward performance monitoring approach including feedback loops and plan to bring a proposal to the next board meeting. There is a particular risk around ensuring lived experience is brought into the programme and the proposed mitigating actions. TCP 1 Programme Lead will run through each of the projects at the next meeting.

Action 4-1207 – SG to present highlight reports on the projects in TCP 1 at the next board meeting on 9 August.

TCP 3 – Virtual Domestic Abuse Model

This project currently sits within SCTS’ criminal lab and SG are in contact with the lab to access the required data. There have been meetings with key justice partners to test the appetite for the model. The board has a key role in helping define and monitor this project. Project team members are undergoing trauma-informed training to approach this from the right perspective. This project is dependent on justice partners but it is likely to be the end of the year before the proposal is finalised.

The board discussed evaluation and ensuring lived experience is involved with this. We need to ensure we are learning from what others are doing and linking up with partners where necessary. Insights will come from users of the system. SCTS will ensure this is covered when the presentation comes to the board. Have been in discussion with Victim Support Scotland during the development of this project. SG offered to feed in where needed and keep sight of developments on this project.l

Action 5-1207 – SCTS to present on Virtual Trials Domestic Abuse Model at the next programme board on 9 August.

TCP 3 – Summary Case Management Project deep dive

SCTS presented on the Summary Case Management Pilot. Initial pilots were in place for three months before the pandemic halted progress. The overall aim of the pilot is to reduce the number of cases that are marked for trial unnecessarily and reduce the volume of late pleas and late decisions on discontinuation. The scope of the pilot is currently Dundee, Hamilton and Paisley sheriff courts and on domestic abuse cases in phase one. Lessons learned will be used to shape the scope of phase two, which could include other types of cases. Initial evaluation scheduled for September 2023 with full evaluation by March 2024.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been developed to measure the success of the project. SCTS continue to work closely with COPFS on the development of the data for the KPIs. KPIs and witness citation reports are produced monthly and presented to the project board. Arrangements were made for a comparative non-pilot court to see the difference and assess the performance of the project. SCTS presented data on KPIs for all pilot courts vs pre-pilot results as well as a control court and national data. The pilot was impacted by the legal aid dispute so there has been a limited period to assess the pilot.

Summary Case Management is a priority for COPFS but noted that there would be a big commitment from COPFS in terms of further rollout and this has a significant impact on resources. The aim is for additional resource to be applied to managing cases at the start of the process and this should balance out once the benefits are realised in terms of case processing.

The board discussed how Hamilton has compared with other pilot and non-pilot courts and how easy it is to assess the causes behind performance against some KPIs. Each court has a lot of variables and engagement of key partners is crucial to the success of the pilot. The presence of the Public Defence Solicitor’s Office (PDSO) at Dundee during the early stages of the pilot when engagement levels were impacted by the Legal Aid dispute had a positive impact. It was unfortunate the pilot coincided with the legal aid dispute. SLAB record statistics for types of legal aid and have seen positive shifts across the pilots, particularly in Dundee.

Sherriff Principals discussed further rollout of the pilot with COPFS and Police Scotland, however, it was accepted that it was too early for the pilot to be expanded. COPFS and Police Scotland want to ensure that the proper resource is in place. The system is still settling down and the pilot will need to run for longer to allow its impact to be assessed.

The board also discussed the use of DESC alongside SCM in Dundee. Both DESC and Egress are being used together and DESC is being used where file types are compatible, however Egress is used for documents, .pdf images, and where staff are not trained on DESC.

The board noted that summary justice improvement has long been an ambition and discussed why this approach will succeed where others have struggled. The key to success is that it is led by the judiciary and the focus is on improving the business of the court rather than making things move faster.

In terms of drivers going forward, Police Scotland digital strategy for change is part of that process. Need to ensure that DESC works in tandem with Body Worn Video (BWV), there is good evidence coming through that these have the ability to reduce pressure on the courts, so collaboration is key.

There is a commitment on the part of Police Scotland and COPFS for an ambitious and innovated approach to early disclosure which allows early engagement and facilitates early case resolution.

Any other business

The next board meeting will take place on Wednesday 9 August.

The Chair reminded members that the Terms of Reference for this board are due to be refreshed in August and a revised version will be circulated ahead of the next meeting.

Finally, the Chair reminded attendees that a lessons learned session is being organised for Monday 21 August to look at the recommendations from the Audit Scotland report as well as learnings from the Recover, Renew, Transform (RRT) programme. Members were asked to respond to the calendar invite and note dietary requirements.