Our reports

This inspection is a follow-up to one we reported on in January 2020, looking at the CPS’s handling of the disclosure of unused material in the Crown Court.

This inspection focuses on the controls the CPS has in place to make sure that case information is managed securely and appropriately.

This inspection looks at the effectiveness of the CPS’s communication with victims of crime. It is a follow-up to an inspection report published in November 2018 on the same topic. Since then, the CPS has accepted our recommendations, published an action plan and started taking actions and making changes.

This inspection assesses how much confidence the public can have in the CPS to deliver high quality, effective, fair and timely charging decisions.

This report is the first stage of looking at how the organisations we inspect have responded during the global COVID-19 pandemic. It looks at the SFO’s response during the period of lockdown from 16 March to 8 May.

This report covers our inspection activity for the year 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020.

This report is the first stage of looking at how the organisations we inspect have responded during the global COVID-19 pandemic. It looks at the CPS’s response during the period of lockdown from 16 March to 8 May, when movement was extremely limited.

Our annual business plan sets out the work we expect to do this year, along with some background on how we chose certain topics as priorities.

The CPS uses agents – lawyers not directly employed by the CPS – in just over a quarter of all cases presented in the magistrates’ courts. This inspection report reviews this practice and identifies recommendations, issues to address and examples of good practice. The inspection examined 90 magistrates’ court files dated from June to September 2019. The files covered nine CPS Areas: Cymru–Wales, London North, Merseyside and Cheshire, North West, South East, Thames and Chiltern, Wessex, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and Humberside.

This inspection report reviews how the CPS handles serious youth crime and identifies recommendations, issues to address and examples of good practice.