Criminal Justice Programme Board minutes: October 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Cat Dalrymple (Chair, Scottish Government (SG))
• Anna Donald (Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) TCP 1, SG)
• Willie Cowan (SRO TCP 3, SG)
• Ruth McCallum (TCP 3 Programme Manager, SG)
• Lucy Gibbons (TCP 1 Programme Lead, SG)
• Amy Wilson (Head of Justice Analytical Services (JAS), SG)
• Fiona Cameron (TCP 3 Programme Director, SG)
• Aitor de las Heras (JAS, SG)
• Jenny Leishman (JAS, SG)
• Karyn McCluskey (Community Justice Scotland (CJS))
• (D) Andrew Laing (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS))
• Marie-Louise Fox (Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB))
• Dene Burke (Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS))
• David Fraser (SCTS)
• Patrick Campbell (Police Scotland)
• Robert Strachan (Scottish Prison Service (SPS))
• Cameron Stewart (Strategy and Performance Unit Head, SG)
• Karl Champion (Senior Officer Portfolio Management Office (PMO), SG)

*(D) denotes deputy

Observers

• Graham Sharp (SG)

Apologies:

• ACC Wendy Middleton (Police Scotland)
• Gemma Fraser (CJS)
• Jennifer Harrower (COPFS)

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    TCP 3 – Journey Times interactive dashboard
7    Project dependencies (TCPs 1 and 3)
8    Any other business

Welcome and introductions

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

Key notes and actions

The draft version of the key notes and actions was circulated on 27 September. No comments/feedback were received so these are considered signed off.

Action and decision log review

The board discussed selected open actions:

7-1306 – Baseline projects in a consistent manner ahead of next board meeting. 
The proposal is to deal with this at the individual project level, recording risks as appropriate. There has been good progress in terms of getting information we need from projects.

4-1309 – TCP 3 Programme Manager to develop change proposal around the Remote Provision of Evidence Project. 
The proposal is that it stays in the programme and we monitor it going forward.

5-1309 – Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) to identify the project lead for Remote Provision of Evidence Project and understand the risks/benefits to being included in TCP 3. 
Report shared by SCTS does not have much detail around this and we need a plan for the way forward. 

Action 1-1110 – Partners to provide clear list of projects and initiatives that contribute to reducing journey times at the next board meeting.

SCTS updated on the Remote Provision of Evidence project which is a strategic priority for SCTS and the aim is to have this within the solemn and summary courts, however resourcing issues are stopping this from being rolled out. Meetings are taking place to discuss further rollout of this project given its success in the high court. This has also been included in Trauma-Informed Domestic Abuse Model (TIDAM). SCTS agreed to share a review of the project from and will meet with police colleagues to discuss any concerns and issues.

Action 2-1110 – SCTS to share review of Remote Provision of Evidence Project and meet with Police Scotland colleagues to discuss issues/concerns. 

TCP 1 highlight report update

The TCP 1 Programme Lead presented a highlight update on TCP 1. The RAG status is still amber reflecting some of the work ongoing around performance management and project evaluation. There is a new issue highlighted in terms of internal resource for SG which may slow the development of some of the projects. A third sector engagement session took place on 3 October. This helped to highlight areas for improvement around engagement and involving the third sector and those with lived experience. The aim is to trial a new stakeholder engagement approach in December. Victims Taskforce will be meeting in November and several projects under TCP 1 are workstreams for the Taskforce.

Action 3-1110 – Members to contact Scottish Government (SG) with any points to raise at the November meeting of the Victims Taskforce.

TCP 3 highlight report update

The TCP 3 Programme Manager presented a highlight update on TCP 3. Baseline information has not been fully completed but there has been good progress in this area. SG are developing a project compliance grid to assess what assurance processes each project has been through. The other key piece of work is on the project dependencies which will be discussed in detail at a later agenda item. The main reason the RAG status amber is due to the scope not being fully defined and the ongoing issues with Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) in terms of data processing. 

The board discussed that the data protection issues with DESC may be wider than just that project and this needs to be considered across the TCPs. The hope is that DESC will find a resolution to this issue which will also apply to other key projects.

The board discussed plans to bring national custody court work into TCP 3. This project will require a significant resource commitment and have an impact across the system. This project was taken out of TCP 3 as it wasn’t progressing however this has since changed. SCTS have instigated a rapid response team and met with a Sheriff Principal who has agreed to be a sponsor for this project. A terms of reference (ToR) has been developed and a business plan and governance structure will also be produced.

The Chair summarised that national virtual custody courts are not yet back on the table, but local virtual custody courts are being developed and it will need to be considered as to whether this belongs under TCP 3. This will involve a collective board discussion and decision to authorise its inclusion.

TCP 3 – Journey Times interactive dashboard

SG Justice Analytical Services colleagues introduced the Journey Times interactive dashboard which shows the data contained within the annual journey times bulletin. This is still a work in progress and feedback and comments from board members is welcomed. The aim is to have a first version out by the end of the calendar year.

The dashboard will contain information from the annual journey times bulletin and be updated on a quarterly basis. The dashboard will enable users to interrogate the data for themselves. Each page of the dashboard will contain highlight areas to show the most recent information. The dashboard will show values for the current and previous financial years, allowing for pre-covid comparisons. The dashboard also allows the data to be displayed on a yearly or quarterly basis. The dashboard can be expanded to include any new data that is published in the annual journey times bulletin and each page of the dashboard has the option to download the data behind the charts in an accessible format.

The board discussed how this dashboard has the potential to be very useful for the sector. The dashboard will sit alongside the annual journey times bulletin which will contain the commentary. We will make it clear that the dashboard is based on the data from the bulletin.

The board would like to see the dashboard expanded to include things like bail and breech of bail. The current dashboard is an analysis of closed cases, whereas the System Health Check project aims to look at live cases and assess where the problems are to help inform decisions more quickly. This data does not currently exist but the outcome for this project is to produce a similar tool as the dashboard for live data. The closed data set from the dashboard can then be used to measure success. What is needed off the back of the data are clear procedures to enable immediate policy and operational decisions to respond to issues being highlighted in real time.

The aim of bringing this to the board today is to help show what can be achieved and also raise questions about what comes next. The dashboard is key for improvement as it provides visibility on what the journey times are and makes us accountable to the public. It also provides a baseline to drive forward from and deliver improvements.

Project dependencies (TCPs 1 and 3)

The TCP 3 Programme Manager presented a paper on the project dependencies. The purpose of this document is to plan a way to deliver the best possible outcomes across the system in a coherent manner.

The board discussed the next step to overlay this with a timeline for delivery of the projects. SCTS noted the Summary Case Management (SCM) project is due to undergo its first evaluation and this will offer an opportunity to learn lessons to inform a new overall summary model. We will also need to consider what the key indicators are to inform where we are on the right lines.

There is a key question around whether co-locating pilots is the right approach in order to ensure that projects will work together in one system and deliver meaningful benefits. The diagram is useful to highlight where projects such as Trauma Informed Domestic Abuse Model (TIDAM) will be enabled by the delivery of other projects such as DESC and SCM.

The board need to consider how we factor in prioritisation in order to achieve the greatest impact and bear this in mind as we go forward and look at the delivery plans. The Criminal Justice Board (CJB) has asked for information on system wide implications of this work and the impact on others outside of the membership of this board.

Action 4-1110 – Members to consider the questions posed at the end of the project dependencies document and provide any further feedback to SG via correspondence.

Action 5-1110 – The dependency item will be brought back to the next board for a deeper discussion and to include the timelines for the projects.

Any other business

The three year delivery plan for the Vision for Justice will be published at the end of October. 

The next meeting is on 8 November and will be in person where Police Scotland will be presenting on Body Worn Video (BWV).