On 12 March Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) published its follow-up report to the Thematic Review of the Quality of Prosecution Advocacy and Case Presentation. The report examines the progress made by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in improving the quality of the advocacy undertaken in-house.

The report says that, although the CPS has saved about £26m in the past five years by training and using its own staff in an increasing number of court cases, the inspectors found slow progress in addressing the recommendations in a 2009 report, which included deployment and working practices, and case presentation.

“While the CPS senior management has been committed to focusing on quality of in-house prosecutors rather than volume,” the report says, “this has not been reflected at local level, where area managers have largely continued to concentrate, in the allocation of work to in-house crown advocates, on fee savings in Crown Court cases.”

It goes on to say that there are clear potential financial benefits resulting from the deployment of in-house advocates in the magistrates’ courts.

HM Chief Inspector Michael Fuller QPM said: “Efficiency and quality can be delivered at the same time but the CPS needs to ensure its in-house prosecutors aren’t just used to save money, as the pursuit of good quality advocacy is paramount.”

The inspection also found that national priorities and objectives are unclear and the current approach is not cohesive across the areas. Only two of the 22 issues raised in the last review have been achieved fully with another having made “substantial progress”.

Director of Public Prosecutions for the CPS, Keir Starmer QC, welcomed the report. He is quoted as saying: “The report rightly highlights our commitment to quality advocacy and a number of areas where the CPS has improved this quality. These include the successful introduction of our Advocacy Quality Monitoring Scheme, and the continued success of our associate prosecutors in the Magistrates’ Court. We will build on these successes to improve quality advocacy at every level.

“The report has identified several areas that need further improvement and we will rise to the challenges set out and continue to improve the quality of both in-house and external advocacy in the criminal courts.”