Crown Office admits ‘room for manoeuvre’ increasingly limited ahead of budget

Scotland’s prosecution service has admitted its resources are coming under increasing strain amid a rising number of complex cases as well as legislative reforms.  

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) told MSPs its “room for manoeuvre is becoming much more limited” having had to “absorb increasing demand with reducing real-term resources”.

The number of High Court trials each year has increased by almost 50 per cent between 2010-11 and 2014-15 with a five-fold increase in the number of rape or attempted rape charges.

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Solemn trials heard by juries within sheriff courts have risen from 982 in 2010-11 to 1,328 last year, whilst summary cases have risen by over 20 per cent, according to Crown Office figures.

Finance Secretary John Swinney will present his draft budget for 2016-17 on December 16, three months on from Audit Scotland claiming that pressures on the sheriff court system were “mounting” with a third of criminal cases taking more than six months to be concluded.

A proposed overhaul of the fatal accident inquiry system will bring with it a “major new pressure”, said the Crown Office, after agreeing to produce a ‘milestone charter’ designed to give more information to families in those cases that are being investigated.

Delays in passing the Criminal Justice Bill will lead to additional work for up to a year before savings can be made, while the service also estimates inflationary pressures of up to £3.5m.

In its submission to the Justice Committee ahead of the draft budget, Crown Agent and chief executive, Catherine Dyer, stated: “In COPFS we will do our very best to continue to deliver our current level of service and absorb the new pressures identified in 2016-17.

“However our room for manoeuvre is becoming much more limited.”

COPFS’ overall budget fell 14 per cent between 2010-11 and 2014-15. Its allocation for 2015-16 remained flat in terms of cash, though “one-off” additional funding of £3.65m was provided purely for large and complex cases as well as work on violence against women and girls.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We are committed to ensuring that both the Crown and Courts Service are appropriately funded.

“In 2014/15 we provided £1.47million in additional funding for extra fiscals, court staff and judiciary, to help speed up the delivery of justice and this year we have committed £2.4million to ensure swift progress of cases involving domestic abuse and sexual violence.

“The Deputy First Minister will set out the Government's budget proposals to Parliament for consultation on 16 December.”