Annual Report 2024-25

Other inspectorate activity

Strategic Plan 2022-25

71. In June 2022, we published our first strategic plan^[58] which focusses on five strategic objectives:

• We will inspect the operation of COPFS and report publicly
• We will increase awareness of and engagement and confidence in our inspection activity
• We will enhance our organisational resilience and invest in our people
• We will invest in our own continuous improvement
• We will work with our partners to maximise the impact of our work

72. This year, we continued to take forward the objectives set out in our Strategic Plan 2022-25. This has included a range of initiatives to improve our own approach to inspection so that we might better support continuous improvement in the service provided by COPFS. For example, we published a framework in August 2024.^[59] This framework, based on the globally recognised European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Model, guides our scrutiny activity. For several years, our scrutiny activity was underpinned by the six original EFQM key themes: outcomes, leadership and governance, process, people, resources, and collaborative work.

73. In recent years, the EFQM Model has undergone significant revision to ensure it remains fit for purpose and reflects the world in which we now operate. Drawing on the latest EFQM Model, our revised framework is focused on three key themes:

• direction
• delivery
• outcomes

74. While each of our inspections of COPFS will vary in subject matter, scope and scale, our inspection framework is designed to ensure a consistent, professional and transparent approach to our work. The framework informs all of our scrutiny activity but is also sufficiently flexible so that bespoke inspection questions – known as our ‘key lines of enquiry’ – can be developed for each inspection. Individual inspections may draw on all or part of the framework, depending on the issue being reviewed.

75. Publication of the framework helps those we inspect, stakeholders and the public know what to expect from us. Similarly, publication of a terms of reference for each individual inspection will highlight how the framework is being tailored to the issue or service area subject to review.

76. We have continued to raise awareness of and engagement and confidence in our inspection activity by:

i. maintaining our website which was first launched in March 2023;

ii. using the website as a tool to engage people in our inspections. In recent inspections we used the ‘Get Involved’ page on the website – in relation to National Enquiry Point we asked the public if anyone had been in touch with Enquiry Point in the last two years to contact us with their feedback. For our ongoing inspection in relation to citations we also used the page to share a survey asking for feedback from anyone who had been cited as a witness in the past three years;

iii. using the ‘News’ page on our website to advise of our publications and to highlight the surveys being launched;

iv. raising the profile of the scrutiny carried out by the inspectorate by speaking at a range of events throughout 2024-25 about the findings of the prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level as well as about the work of IPS more generally including attendance by the former Chief Inspector as a speaker at the Cross Party Group on Men’s Violence Against Women, run by Scottish Women’s Aid on 17 September 2024;

v. promoting awareness of the inspectorate’s work among COPFS staff including the former Chief Inspector presenting at the COPFS seminar on domestic abuse held on 29 October 2024, posting a series of articles about recent and upcoming inspections on the COPFS intranet (Connect) along with publishing an article featuring an interview with Ms Paton explaining her role as part of the series of ‘A coffee with….’ articles on Connect.

77. To improve our organisational resilience, we continue to review the staffing model in our small team. We are a team of 5 staff, 4 of whom are permanent IPS staff which provides a degree of stability, boosts our resilience and allows for a longer-term return on the investment we make in the training and development of staff. The fifth member of staff, our Legal Inspector, is a secondee from COPFS. As secondees are only with IPS for around two years or thereby it ensures that their prosecutorial knowledge is fresh and current which is invaluable to our inspection activity and of great help to the wider team.

78. In the year ahead we will also produce a Strategic Plan 2026-28.

Sheku Bayoh Inquiry

79. Earlier in the year we were approached by the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry – an independent public inquiry set up to examine the events surrounding the death of Sheku Bayoh, the subsequent investigation and whether race was a factor.^[60]

80. The inquiry team asked IPS about our function and about the Thematic report on Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service's response on race issues which was published in 2005. The report centred on examining how COPFS reacted to Dr Raj Jandoo's findings in his 2001 report to Ministers^[61] following the murder of Surjit Singh Chhokar in 1998 but also looked at race crime and employment issues within COPFS.^[62] This was the first report produced by IPS and is now 20 years old. The former Chief Inspector provided a written response to the inquiry setting out the role and remit of IPS and the background to the 2005 report.