Chamber and committees

Procurators Fiscal are instructed that cases which may be competently taken in the district court should be taken there unless there is some good reason for prosecuting in the sheriff court or the Lord Advocate directs otherwise. The Lord Advocate has directed that: (a) proceedings should not be taken in the district court for a breach of a Sex Offenders Order, or any offence aggravated by a breach of a Sex Offender Order; (b) proceedings should not be taken in the district court where the prosecutor considers a Non-Harassment Order to be appropriate, and (c) proceeding should not be taken in the district court where the offence is racially aggravated or contrary to section 50A of the Criminal Law (Consolidated) (Scotland) Act 1995. The criteria for the use of alternatives to prosecution are set out in the Prosecution Code which has been published and made available on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service website.

We are implementing the recommendations of the recent management review. Additional prosecutors have been recruited and structural changes are being made to improve the management support given to prosecutors.

The proportion of these cases is very small, having risen from 205 to 451. There are likely to be a number of factors leading to this, including the need to devote resources to serious cases and other competing pressures on the time of Procurators Fiscal.

The reduction in business in the district court is a consequence of the reduction in the overall number of cases reported to the procurator fiscal, the availability of fiscal fines and other alternatives to prosecution and the shift in the balance of business towards more serious crime.

This information is not held centrally. However, we are addressing the timeliness of reporting with the police and other reporting agencies.

Police officers inform the procurator fiscal, in the report which they submit, of any dates on which they will not be available. Procurators Fiscal take that information into account in accepting suggested trial diets. Lothian and Borders Police are, with the co-operation of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Scottish Court Service piloting arrangements for police rostering, leave and availability to be checked immediately before trials are fixed. Early indications are that significant reductions in adjournments are being achieved as a result. Grampian Police are also, with the co-operation of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Scottish Court Service, piloting a similar process but one based on direct computer access in court. Such measures are designed to ensure that, so far as possible, trial dates are fixed when police officers will be available.

The training received and written guidance held by procurators fiscal identifies particular classes of case as generally requiring priority. These include, for example, cases involving children, cases in which the accused is in custody and cases in which a time bar is approaching. The allocation of priorities as between the several cases which a given member of staff or a given office requires to deal with at a particular time is a matter for professional judgement in light of training and experience and depends on consideration of all of the circumstances of each case.

We are addressing the timeliness of reporting with the police and other reporting agencies.

We are addressing the timeliness of reporting with the police and other reporting agencies.

This information is not held centrally. However, we are addressing the timeliness of reporting with the police and other reporting agencies.