Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Attorney General, what steps the CPS has taken to ensure that administrative errors do not prevent victims from giving evidence at trial.

Robert Buckland

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does all that it can to make sure that administrative errors do not prevent victims from giving evidence at trial.

The CPS introduced a national standard operating practice for magistrates’ court activity in May 2015. The process is digital and task-based and is designed to ensure consistency of approach and timing of activity in managing casework which will further reduce the risk of administrative errors being made. Testing of Crown Court standard operating practice commenced at the beginning of February 2016.

Joint police/CPS Witness Care Units (WCUs) provide a single point of contact for victims and witnesses and ensure they have access to tailored support to make sure they are able to attend court and give their best evidence. Most WCUs use the Witness Management System (WMS) to record the contact they have with victims and witnesses. WMS is a bespoke IT system designed to support WCUs in managing their cases, thereby reducing the risk of administrative errors.