Important Message from The Attorney General to Law Officers

The LODs Strategic Board met on 2^nd April and took a number of decisions which will have an impact on how we do our business.  I want to set out these decisions and explain the reasons behind them.

The Strategic Board was set up last year. I chair it and the Solicitor General is a member, as are the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Directors of the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office and of the Serious Fraud Office, the Treasury Solicitor, HM Chief Inspector of the CPS, the Chief Executive of the National Fraud Strategic Authority and senior staff from the Attorney General's Office. 

For the last few months the Strategic Board has overseen a Strategy Programme, which has been examining how best we can build on your very considerable successes in recent years to ensure that the LODs are fit for the future. This has included looking at current and future challenges for the prosecution services, at a time when expectations of us have never been higher and, in common with all public services, we need to find efficiencies.

We have agreed three major ways forward.

We will combine the RCPO and the CPS to provide enhanced prosecution services for the public, to safeguard and improve the already high quality work done in both services on serious and complex cases, and  to deliver a community prosecutor approach for the majority of cases across the country. This builds on the very considerable progress made in both the CPS and the RCPO to build capability and deliver high quality services. I have asked the DPP, Keir Starmer, QC, to take forward this work in partnership with David Green, QC, the Director of RCPO.. As a transitional step, I am delighted that David Green has agreed to be the Director of a ring-fenced prosecution service for HMRC within this combined public prosecution service.

There is much work still to do. The Directors will be working hard with me and others on our Strategic Board to ensure that we maintain and develop the specialist skills of staff within both services, ensuring that all our staff get the widest range of opportunities and that we continue to provide an excellent service to the public.

It is a tribute to the high quality of our staff that we are able to move forward in this way by building on your expertise.  We will maintain that quality and specialist knowledge going forward.  Some change will be required from both services, and I know that you will be provided with strong collaborative leadership.

We also agreed to develop and strengthen corporate shared services, that is HR, finance, IT and facilities management, across the LODs.  The case for this goes beyond financial savings; it is an opportunity to provide a better, more resilient service overall, and provide opportunities for our staff across a wider pool.  Further announcements will be made in due course.

We will continue working to improve the fraud landscape.  This is a highly complex area and we must ensure that we are addressing the big issues.  Both the SFO and NFSA are committed to developing this.  As well as continuing to examine the landscape and determining that we have the most effective arrangements for the future, we will agree a common fraud framework, ensure we make best use of existing powers, share our specialist services and make better use of joint working

07.04.2009