HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland has today (29 September 2026) published our Annual Report 2025-26.
Our report sets out the value of our inspection work along with HM Chief Inspector of Prosecution’s ongoing priorities for the inspectorate during her time in office and also highlights our scrutiny activity over the year, including our assessment of the implementation of previous inspections in relation to the Management by COPFS of criminal allegations against the police (published in 2021), the Joint review of diversion from prosecution (published in 2023), the Prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level (published in 2024), Responding to enquiries: service delivery through National Enquiry Point (published in 2025) and an update on our joint inspection with HM Inspectorate of Constabulary on Citing witnesses in the sheriff court (published in March 2026).
At present, we are carrying out a focused follow-up inspection on communication with victims of domestic abuse in summary cases. We are concentrating on improving the service provided to domestic abuse victims and will assess and report on whether COPFS is providing basic information, timeously, to victims at key stages of summary domestic abuse cases. In particular, we are taking account of the impact of Summary Case Management and Early Victim Engagement which is now the national model.
The Annual Report 2025-26 is available to read here.