A recent inspection into CPS South East by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) found encouraging results in the improvement that the Area has managed to make in its overall sexual offences conviction rate. The rate improved from 77.5% in 2015-16 to 79.9% in the 12 months to June 2017, compared to 78.0% and 79.6% nationally. In addition, the rape conviction rate has increased from 50.3% to 54.6% compared to 57.9% and 58.5% nationally.

There has been mixed success with improving wider conviction rates. While magistrates’ courts cases have seen consistent improvement to levels which are now better than the national average, overall Crown Court outcomes have declined and are now worse than the national average. Inspectors identified significant weaknesses in both courts in case reviews and the quality and management of casework.

Inspectors noted that the Area recently underwent a significant change to its senior management team and at the time of the inspection in November 2017 had just introduced a new management structure. Senior managers have been able to increase staff engagement from 40% in 2013 to 63% last year, which is commendable.

Inspectors found that CPS South East needs to make improvements in a number of areas, including the disclosure of unused material.

The Area needs to significantly ramp up its efforts to improve the disclosure of unused material. Inspectors found that initial disclosure was only dealt with fully by prosecutors in 38.3% of Crown Court cases.

Inspectors did note that there are issues around the police complying with their disclosure requirements which make it more difficult for lawyers to comply with their own obligations. The police complied with disclosure fully in only 25 out of 60 cases (41.7%) and there were substantial differences between the police forces.

Although the Area holds regular meetings with criminal justice system partners and other stakeholders, there is an ongoing inability to influence all police partners, which is having a serious impact on the quality of casework and the service provided to victims and witnesses.

Chief Inspector Kevin McGinty said: “We acknowledge that the senior management team is addressing a number of the underlying issues the Area faces and we welcome the fact that staff engagement is already showing signs of definite improvement. This will provide the Area with a crucial platform to deliver change.

“But our inspection revealed far too many aspects of casework performance which need to be improved, and where the Area needs to add value. There has been some good learning from the experiences of victims shared across the Area but more work is needed to improve communications and relationships with witness care units. Police file quality deficiencies are having an impact on the Area’s ability to meet the needs of victims and witnesses. The Area also needs to improve its interaction with Victim Liaison Units and set up an effective quality assurance system to feed back issues and learning.”

CPS South East has offices at Canterbury, Brighton, Guildford, Middlesbrough and Newcastle. The latter two are referred to as the South East Team in the North East (SETINE). The Area is aligned with Kent, Surrey and Sussex Police forces. It covers 13 magistrates’ courts and six Crown Court centres. In the 12 months to June 2017 it had the full-time equivalent of 225 staff and its budget for 2017-18 is £22,220,288.

Inspectors examined 120 magistrates’ court and Crown Court files finalised between May and July 2017. The fieldwork involved direct discussions with members of the judiciary, partner agencies, CPS staff and court observations.

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