Strategic Plan 2026-29

About us

HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland (IPS) is led by HM Chief Inspector of Prosecution who is appointed by the Lord Advocate to inspect the operation of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). COPFS is the sole prosecuting authority in Scotland and is also responsible for investigating sudden, unexplained or suspicious deaths and criminal allegations against the police.

IPS was first established in 2003, following an independent inquiry by Dr Raj Jandoo into the liaison arrangements between the police, COPFS and the family of Surjit Singh Chhokar, following the murder of Mr Chhokar and related prosecutions. One of the recommendations of the inquiry was that an inspectorate of COPFS be established, 'to introduce a measure of accountability, which is essential for public confidence'. After initially operating as a non-statutory body, IPS was placed on a statutory footing in 2007.

Mandate

The functions and powers of HM Chief Inspector are set out in the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007. The role of the Chief Inspector is to:

• secure the inspection of the operation of COPFS
• submit a report to the Lord Advocate on any particular matter connected with the operation of COPFS which is referred by the Lord Advocate
• submit to the Lord Advocate an annual report on the exercise of the Chief Inspector's functions, which the Lord Advocate must lay before the Scottish Parliament.

The 2007 Act makes clear that in the exercise of any of the functions conferred by the Act, the Chief Inspector acts independently of any other person. When inspecting COPFS, the Chief Inspector may require any person directly involved in the operation of the service to provide her with information.

As well as the 2007 Act, there are a range of other duties to which IPS is subject, including duties of user-focus and co-operation with other scrutiny bodies under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, and duties derived from the Human Rights Act 1998 and Equality Act 2010.

Our purpose

Our statutory purpose is to inspect the operation of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Our vision

Our vision is to promote excellence and confidence in Scotland's prosecution service through independent, evidence-based scrutiny.

Our values

• Independence
• Credibility
• User-focus
• Respect
• Partnership

Our values underpin our approach to scrutiny. We always seek to demonstrate our values in the way that we work.

Independence – We act independently in all we do, providing impartial and objective scrutiny of the service provided by COPFS.

Credibility – We deliver high quality, evidence-based scrutiny and report publicly on our findings. Our approach is rigorous but fair and proportionate.

User-focus – The views and experiences of those individuals and organisations who are affected by the work of COPFS are central to our scrutiny activity. This includes victims, witnesses and next of kin as well as those who advocate on their behalf. We are also mindful of the experience of accused persons and those who represent them. We ensure a trauma-informed approach across our work.

Respect – Respect and professionalism are at the heart of what we do. We support equal access to justice. We engage constructively with those we inspect and we value the contribution they make.

Partnership – We work in partnership with others. We support continuous improvement in COPFS, and we work with our scrutiny partners to support improvement across the criminal justice system.

Who we are

IPS comprises the Chief Inspector, Assistant Inspector of Prosecution, Legal Inspector, Business Inspector and a Personal Assistant. As at 31 March 2026, the staff of IPS was 4.57 full-time equivalent staff. The current Chief Inspector, Deborah O’Brien Demick, was appointed in July 2025 to serve a three-year term.

The Assistant Inspector of Prosecution post was made permanent in 2023. Having previously been on a secondment basis this now affords some stability and continuity in the small team. The Legal Inspector is a prosecutor seconded from COPFS. This arrangement allows IPS to draw on the current operational expertise and skills of the secondee as well as their familiarity with COPFS systems and processes. Secondments also provide a development opportunity for prosecutors. The current Legal Inspector’s secondment will come to an end in March 2027. This will coincide with the retirement of the Personal Assistant who has worked at IPS since it was established. The Business Inspector who has been at IPS since 2005 will retire in late 2026. These anticipated staff changes will afford us the opportunity to consider our staffing model. A business case will be submitted to the Scottish Government mid-2026 with a view to ensuring timely recruitment and modernisation of our organisational structure along with enhancing our resilience and capacity.

The IPS budget is allocated annually by the Scottish Government. In 2024-25, the budget was £463,000 increasing to £483,000 in 2026-27 to take account of rising staff costs. In 2024-25 staffing costs accounted for 98% of our annual spend. In 2025-26 our staffing costs took up almost 95% of our annual spend, though this was largely owing to no Chief Inspector being in post from March – July 2025 otherwise there would have been an overspend on staff costs. We began 2026-27 in the knowledge that we will overspend on that basis which necessarily restricts the ability of IPS to achieve its statutory function.

What we do

Our focus is on the quality of the prosecution service being delivered to the public in Scotland. Our inspection reports highlight what is working well and identify areas for development and improvement. In all of our work, a key objective is to understand the experience of those for whom the service is provided. We make recommendations that, if implemented, will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the service.

We seek to engage constructively with those inspected and to support them to deliver continuous improvement. We are mindful of the burden that scrutiny can impose on the organisation that we inspect and seek to take a proportionate approach, minimising our demand on COPFS staff and resources. We provide assurance to the Lord Advocate about the service being delivered by COPFS and our published reports help reassure the public that COPFS is independently scrutinised and held accountable, thereby enhancing public confidence in the justice system and improving the service provided by COPFS.

Issues for inspection are selected on the basis of risk and intelligence, and following consultation with the Law Officers, COPFS and stakeholders. The Lord Advocate has the authority to refer matters to IPS for inspection, meaning that a certain degree of flexibility in the programme is required to incorporate any issues that may emerge.

We carry out different types of inspection activity, including thematic reviews, follow-up inspections (including focused follow-up inspections) and collaborative reviews.

Thematic inspections

Thematic inspections look holistically at an issue or a service end-to-end. These inspections can focus on specific types of prosecutions, deaths investigations, or business processes. Our most recent thematic inspections have covered large areas of COPFS work with some recommendations taking several years to implement.

Follow-up inspections

We also carry out follow-up inspections, to assess the progress made in implementing our recommendations. Follow-up inspections can provide information and reassurance to the Lord Advocate and the wider public that action is being taken in response to our inspection and that improvements in service delivery are being achieved. Due to our limited resources however, it is not possible to carry out follow-up inspections of all previous work. We have an agreed process with COPFS which ensures a more proportionate, risk-based and intelligence-led approach to following up previous inspections. In response to our recommendations, COPFS provide us with action plans which we use alongside supporting evidence about implementation to assess the progress being made and to inform decisions as to whether a follow-up inspection is merited.

In 2026 we decided to undertake our first focused follow-up inspection as two years after a thematic inspection report was published, we found insufficient evidence of progress in relation to particular recommendations and determined that it was in the public interest to do so. While previous follow-up inspections have revisited the entirety of the original inspection there is no impediment to a limited follow-up inspection focusing on particular aspects of the work of COPFS, if deemed necessary by the Chief Inspector. Focused follow-up inspections do not preclude a wider follow-up inspection on a thematic report if deemed appropriate in the future.

Collaborative inspections

We actively seek opportunities to carry out our inspection activity in partnership with other scrutiny bodies.^[2] The effective operation of the justice system cannot be achieved by any one agency – it is dependent on a range of organisations working together at a strategic and operational level. When appropriate, a similarly collaborative approach should therefore be taken to independent scrutiny, to ensure that shared outcomes are being achieved.

Reporting publicly

All IPS thematic and follow-up inspection reports are published on our website. Implementation tables showing COPFS progress towards achievement of recommendations are published in our annual reports. We use these tables to assess COPFS implementation progress and to provide the rationale for our assessment. We do so to ensure accountability, transparency and provide reassurance to the public. The information in the implementation tables also provides guidance to COPFS about what evidence we require to satisfy our recommendations. During the lifetime of this strategic plan we will aim, subject to resources, to introduce live implementation tables on our website as other inspectorates do.

Inspection Framework

Our inspection activity is supported by an Inspection Framework, which helps ensure we take a consistent, professional and transparent approach to our work. Based on the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model, our framework has three themes – direction, delivery and outcomes. The framework informs all of our scrutiny activity but is also sufficiently flexible so that bespoke key lines of enquiry can be developed for each inspection.

Terms of reference

We publish the terms of reference for our inspections. These set out the issue we intend to inspect, the scope of the inspection, how we intend to gather evidence and the estimated timescales for the work. The terms of reference are drafted after initial scoping work has been carried out and following preliminary discussions with key stakeholders. By publishing terms of reference, we aim to increase transparency and promote awareness of our work. The terms of reference can also be used as a tool to engage those with an interest in the issue being inspected.

Current and previous scrutiny

Our inspection activity reflects the broad range of work undertaken by COPFS. Examples of our previous inspections include:

• Citing witnesses in the sheriff court
• Responding to enquiries: service delivery through National Enquiry Point
• The prosecution of domestic abuse cases at sheriff summary level
• Joint review of diversion from prosecution
• Inspection of COPFS practice in relation to s274 and s275 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995
• Inspection of the management of criminal allegations against the police by COPFS