Oral Answers to Questions

Sara Britcliffe Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the CPS during the covid-19 outbreak.

[Sara Britcliffe (Hyndburn) (Con)]

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the CPS during the covid-19 outbreak.

[The Attorney General (Suella Braverman)]

First, I thank the CPS for its hard work during this difficult time. It has had to adapt to significant changes to its normal working practices, and despite the challenges has maintained a high quality of service within our criminal justice system and for victims. The inspectorate report published on 30 June sets out an analysis of its response to the pandemic. It commends the organisation’s digital capability, strategic planning and foresight in upgrading its capabilities, which meant that prosecutors were able to continue their vital work with minimum disruption. I was very pleased to virtually visit the CPS in the south-west, where I was able to see at first hand the impressive way in which it has transitioned to this new way of working.

[The Attorney General]

Last week, I chaired the CPS ministerial board, at which I was pleased to hear that the CPS’s recruitment programme has continued at pace throughout the pandemic, utilising digital tools, including video interviews. The CPS is recruiting 390 new staff as a result of the Government’s £85 million investment in it. Two hundred and twenty-five lawyers have started and a further 76 have been offered roles and will be starting in the near future. The most recent campaign closed on 17 June and resulted in a record number of applications—901.

[Sara Britcliffe]

Can the Attorney General tell the House how many members of the CPS were off sick due to covid-19?

[The Attorney General]

The CPS has been monitoring the absence level of both lawyer and support staff throughout the pandemic. Where necessary, the CPS has virtually redeployed staff between different CPS areas to ensure that workloads were effectively managed. Court closures and the significant reduction in court sittings resulted in the release of some staff to undertake different tasks and work. This increased the amount of legal and administrative resources available for casework.