Criminal Justice Programme Board minutes: September 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Cat Dalrymple (Chair, Scottish Government (SG))
• Willie Cowan (Deputy Director Justice Transformation, SG)
• Ruth McCallum (TCP 3 Programme Manager, SG)
• Lucy Gibbons (TCP 1 Programme Lead, SG)
• Fiona Cameron (SG)
• Gemma Fraser (Community Justice Scotland (CJS))
• Jennifer Harrower (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS))
• Marie-Louise Fox (Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB))
• Kingsley Thomas (SLAB)
• Dene Burke (Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS))
• Mike Milligan (SCTS)
• Naomi Gregg (Head of Justice Portfolio Management Office (PMO), SG)
• Karl Champion (Senior Officer PMO, SG)

Observers

• Andy Baird (SG)

Apologies

• ACC Wendy Middleton (Police Scotland)
• Anna Donald (Deputy Director Criminal Justice, SG)
• Sue Brookes (Scottish Prison Service (SPS))
• David Fraser (SCTS)
• Rob Hay (Police Scotland)
• Karyn McCluskey (CJS)
• Amy Wilson (Head of Justice Analytical Services (JAS), SG)

Items and actions

Agenda

1    Welcome and introductions 
2    Key notes and actions
3    Action and decision log review 
4    Communications
5    Transformational Change Programme (TCP) 3 highlight report update
6    TCP 1 highlight report update 
7    Virtual Domestic Abuse Model
8    Any other business

Welcome and introductions

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

Members were informed that the current Police Scotland representative has moved to a new post within Police Scotland.

Action 1-1309 – Portfolio Management Office (PMO) to identify new Police Scotland representative for the board.

Key notes and actions

The draft key notes and actions were circulated on 30 August. No comments/feedback were received so these are considered signed off.

Action and decision log review

The Chair updated on current open and on hold actions:

• 3-1306 – remains open, assurance information being gathered as part of the baseline information
• 4-1306 – delivery plan will be presented at the next board meeting
• 6-1306 – risk register will be presented at the next board meeting
• 7-1306 – there has been good progress in terms of collecting baseline information
• 6-0908 – refreshed terms of reference (ToR) will be updated following evolution session on 21 August and brought to the next board meeting

Communications

The PMO introduced the work ongoing to produce communications documents for the TCPs. The PMO is currently drafting a paper for all TCP boards to consider which will cover the proposed plans for publication.

Action 2-1309 – Board members to feed in thoughts/comments on the communication approach by the end of September and PMO to produce paper for next board meeting.

The Chair clarified all key notes and actions are to be published, however they will be checked before publication and amended to the board’s satisfaction. This as an opportunity to link together the work on TCPs in a more public facing way.

TCP 3 highlight report update

The TCP 3 Programme Manager presented a highlight update on the programme. Baseline information has progressed well and we now have a much better understanding of where the projects are. Scottish Government (SG) introduced a new reporting template for the board. Board members are invited to provide comments/feedback on this approach.

SG noted the decision to remove/add projects has been added to the decision log for this board and SG are developing a project compliance grid. There is still a lack of understanding of the dependencies for the programme and SG plan to produce a dependency map. Finally, we need clarity on Remote Provision of Evidence project status and whether it still fits with this programme.

The board discussed Remote Provision of Evidence and the need to consider the value that was targeted at the start of the project and where we are in terms of delivery. In terms of dependencies, Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) are aware of the need for other parts of the system to interact with each other. We need to ensure things are implemented in the right way and communicated effectively across stakeholders. We need to ensure updates are aligned with project/programme managers when producing highlight reports. It would be helpful if these were shared before board meetings to ensure consistency. Would like to see a high level programme plan on a page with key milestones and links between them.

SG emphasised that we need to have clarity in order to approach this on a system-level basis. In terms of the Remote Provision of Evidence project, this had a successful pilot so we anticipated that there would be a plan for national rollout. Would like to see a programmatic approach across the system to measure benefits and dependencies. There are potential massive benefits for this project and sitting within the TCP is the best way to deliver those benefits.

It would be helpful if members had a proposal to set out what the change is and some information around benefits and risks. SCTS are producing a report on this project which would be useful to feed in to the proposal.

Action 3-1309 – TCP 3 Programme Manager to develop a formal change proposal around the Remote Provision of Evidence project.

The board discussed the need for a business case for this project, SCTS criminal lab are keen to drive this project forward now that difficult exploratory work has been done. SCTS acknowledge that this is a project that requires strong collaboration across partners and needs to align with priorities across the programme.

Action 4-1309 – SCTS to identify the Project Lead for Remote Provision of Evidence and understand the risks/benefits to being included in the TCP.

TCP 1 highlight report update

The TCP 1 Programme Lead provided a verbal update on the programme. There are no new risks/issues and the majority of projects are finishing the initiation phase, including revising governance arrangements and agreeing milestones. The remaining task is to revisit evaluation requirements for each project. This will be the focus of the month ahead to ensure the projects are on track to complete their initiation phase by the end of September. The performance management approach was taken to the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) who agreed in principle, however they would like to see more detail. SG are bringing principles and ideas to the Operations and Analysis Group to come up with a workable, realistic solution in the short term and agree a way forward for the medium/long term. Following on from the evolution session on 21 August we are keen to improve engagement across the programme and develop better relationships, involving more people in what the projects and programme are doing. There are plans for better engagement with the third sector on the three year delivery plan for the Vision for Justice in Scotland, with a session in October.

Virtual Domestic Abuse Model

SCTS presented on the Trauma-Informed Domestic Abuse Model (TIDAM) project. This project is in the early stages but progressing with a governance model in place. The strategic leadership group are meeting at the end of September and the ToR for this group has been drafted along with a high level delivery plan. Held multiple stakeholder discussions and a full day workshop will take place on 28 September to go through the as-is and to-be processes. TIDAM is a high priority for SCTS to deliver and a senior Programme Manager is needed to progress this. SCTS have taken action to recruit in this area but the rest of the team are taking on responsibilities to cover this gap. Working to bring together the suite of SCTS projects in order to prioritise delivery.

The board discussed engagement with the Summary Case Management (SCM) project. SCTS are taking forward this action to see how this will progress and how it is communicated across stakeholders. We need all justice partners to participate in the digital sharing of cases/evidence across the system. TIDAM pilot is aiming to improve this element.

This board needs to become a system-level decision making board. Every organisation is independent but interdependent on the rest of the system and we need to get beyond the point where individual organisations are making independent decisions that impact on the rest of the system. This indicates the cultural shift that is required in order to implement the TCPs and create a system-level decision making body resulting in a whole system approach and delivering against the Vision for Justice.

Any other business

The Chair informed members that we are currently drafting the summary report following the Board Evolution Session that was held on 21 August and we hope to have this ready to share with you prior to the next board meeting.

The next board meeting will take place on Wednesday 11 October.