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4.43 pm
Mr. John Burnett (Torridge and West Devon): If the Bill results in the creation of an independent and autonomous inspectorate, it cannot come into force too soon. I shall refer later to such matters as independence and annual reports, but I must first express my great concern about the state of morale in the Crown Prosecution Service. I endorse wholeheartedly the comments of the hon. and learned Member for Harborough (Mr. Garnier). I, too, pay tribute to the Director of Public Prosecutions. His integrity and independence are not in question.
My awareness of the state of morale in the CPS does not come only from recent newspaper reports; it also results from my discussions with members of the service. Because of their fear of recrimination, I cannot disclose their names to the House; indeed, I have given my word that I shall not do so.
The hon. and learned Member for Harborough referred to a recent independent report. On 20 May, The Times carried an article with the headline "Stressed CPS--Staff
Close to Crisis". It stated that, according to the survey published the previous day, the CPS was on the brink of crisis, with one in four of its 9,000 staff suffering high stress levels. The survey had a response rate of 65 per cent., and was carried out last year by an independent organisation. I gather that it was commissioned after a female member of the CPS sadly committed suicide, allegedly because of the stress of work.The First Division Association is using the survey in an attempt to reverse a 4.6 per cent. cut in the budget for next year. That information is in the public domain, but members of the Crown Prosecution Service have told me directly that there are reasons other than funding for the rock-bottom morale in the service. They say that they lack the most basic resources and equipment for the job.
The House will be amazed to hear that the 10 Crown prosecutors in one team, many of whom deal with road traffic matters, have one textbook to share between them. The support given to the CPS is negligible. I am told that there is also a lack of computer and secretarial back-up. It is very difficult for Crown prosecutors to get up-to-date information on any law. There is no link to Lexis or to any other computer-based information service.
It is a disgrace that the Government should fetter and hamper their prosecution service so dreadfully. It is no wonder that the record of the CPS is criticised so frequently. The service has many very able people, who are dedicated to doing their jobs as fairly and efficiently as they can. How can they achieve that with both hands tied behind their backs?
It makes a mockery of our criminal justice system if the state is not able properly to mount a prosecution. There has been a lot of talk recently about new offences such as corporate manslaughter, but it is useless if there is no confidence that the Crown can mount a compelling prosecution in the first place.
I am told that in the west country, the CPS cannot keep up with its commitments in the magistrates courts, let alone in the higher courts. The House will recall that the Access to Justice Act 1999 gave properly qualified members of the CPS rights of audience in the higher courts. Liberal Democrat Members supported that provision, but I remind the Solicitor-General that the Act made it clear to all lawyers that their first duties are to the court and to the integrity of justice. Many CPS members believe that the underfunding and underresourcing that I have described have put them in breach of the relevant section of the 1999 Act. I understand that, this year, the CPS in Devon and Cornwall must make good a budget shortfall of some 8 per cent.
I hope that the Solicitor-General has something to say to the House on the matters of funding and morale, as the current state of affairs is utterly unacceptable. It makes a mockery of any attempt by the Government to deal adequately with their responsibilities for the criminal justice system. We want the Bill to establish a scrupulously independent and autonomous inspectorate. It must report annually to Parliament. Its chief inspector must come before the appropriate Select Committee after the annual report has been published, and at any other time that the Select Committee may determine.
There should be no inhibition or strictures on any CPS employee contacting the inspectorate at any time to make known the misgivings that he or she may have about the service. Those misgivings do not necessarily have to
involve matters of funding or resources; the employees should be able to raise other matters and, most important, to refer to any endeavour by any person to exert undue influence on a Crown prosecutor.I remind the House that one of the conclusions of the Glidewell report was that it was essential to expand the role of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and that the inspectorate should have an independent chairman. I welcome the fact that there will be an independent chairman and I welcome the Bill. However, I hope that the Solicitor-General can assure the House that members of the CPS will be free to make complaints to the inspectorate without recriminations. Furthermore, I look forward to hearing from the Solicitor-General that the chairman will be independent and autonomous and will report to a Committee of the House at any time that that Committee should determine.
4.51 pm
The Solicitor-General: With the leave of the House, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I am grateful for the warm welcome that has been given to the Bill. I thank the shadow Attorney-General, the hon. and learned Member for Harborough (Mr. Garnier), and the hon. Member for Torridge and West Devon (Mr. Burnett) for their support for the principles behind it.
I shall deal briefly with a few points that have been raised in the debate. The shadow Attorney-General said that he had visited the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and I am grateful that he did. I am sure that the visit gave him a greater insight into its operation. He mentioned thematic reports, which the Attorney-General and I have encouraged the inspectorate to carry out. At present, the inspectorate is undertaking reports on the handling of ethnic minority issues, custody time limits and offences arising out of fatal road accidents. I know that they are three issues of concern to both sides of the House.
The shadow Attorney-General and the hon. Member for Torridge and West Devon referred to the recent stress survey. The Government should be commended for undertaking that survey, which produced results that were not exactly unexpected. Prosecutors work under great time constraints, there is a problem of funding--I shall come to that point shortly--and, at present, there is a lack of sufficient information technology facilities in the service. None the less, the report identified the strength of the CPS; the nature, diversity and importance of the work that prosecutors and the non-lawyers in the service carry out and which is appreciated; and the good terms and conditions that they enjoy as part of the civil service.
Let me make it clear that funding is an historic problem. It harks back to the founding of the CPS and the Conservative party cannot avoid responsibility for that. The CPS was underfunded from the outset and it is only now that the position is being redressed.
Mr. Garnier: The Solicitor-General says that the CPS has been underfunded historically, but why are the Government cutting its budget for next year?
The Solicitor-General: I was just about to say that the Attorney-General is making great efforts in putting the case to the Treasury for an increase in funding for the
CPS. That case has been supported by the Lord Chancellor and by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, who both understand that an effective CPS is necessary if other parts of the criminal justice system are to work. At present, I cannot tell the House the outcome of those negotiations, but I am optimistic that there will be good news in the near future.
Mr. Burnett: Are financial deficiencies carried forward from previous years included in the discussions and representations of the Home Secretary and the Chancellor?
The Solicitor-General: As I said, the problem is historic. The previous Government underfunded the CPS and we have a lot to make up. The hon. Gentleman mentioned information technology, which is one area in which we have made progress. As I have told the House before, we successfully obtained an extra £12 million in the capital modernisation programme and, as a result, the Connect programme will be implemented later this year. It will provide all prosecutors with basic information technology, and will enable the CPS to access databases and send e-mails via the internet to other criminal justice agencies.
Mr. Burnett: Will the computer technology that is being funded and installed include Lexis or some other legal information and case law network accessible to Crown prosecutors, enabling them to know the up-to-date law to which they must refer in court?
The Solicitor-General: It certainly will. In the pilot projects, Archbold, the standard textbook on criminal law, is available to prosecutors.
I refute the view that morale is at rock bottom. Certainly, that was not the case in Derbyshire and Hertfordshire, where I visited CPS officers last week. I did not conclude that morale was at rock bottom when I visited the Devon and Cornwall CPS last year with the hon. Gentleman. No doubt, there are stresses and strains and the situation could be improved, but the bleak picture painted by Opposition Members does not reflect reality.
In response to a point made by the hon. Gentleman, there is no reason why the CPS inspector should not appear before the Select Committee on Home Affairs. Indeed, in relation to the independence of the CPS, all prosecutors are fiercely independent and must act in accordance with the statutory code for Crown prosecutors.
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