THERE are serious failings in Scotland’s criminal justice system, MSPs have said, as a new report warned that both victims and witnesses can be “made to feel like an afterthought”.
Holyrood’s Justice Committee, which has been carrying out an investigation into the work of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), highlighted a number of issues for ministers and prosecutors to consider.
MSPs heard praise for the “professionalism” and “dedicated, hard-working staff” in the COPFS, with their report stating: “On the whole, the public should have confidence that it is a rigorous and fair prosecutor.”
However, the report also warns of a service under “considerable pressure”, stressing: “There can be no room for complacency.”
The COPFS budget has been falling from a peak of £118.3 million in 2009-10, with the FDA trade union claiming if funding remains the same next year, the service will be facing a real-terms budget cut of 21.5 per cent.
The number of prosecutors at the COPFS has also been in decline since 2009-10 when it stood at an all-time high of 558. The committee heard it “was commonplace for prosecutors to have to work late or at weekends, and to take work home” in what was seen as “an increasingly difficult job”.
Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC said: “It is gratifying that the committee has concluded that COPFS is an effective, rigorous, fair and independent public prosecutor ... The committee has made a number of recommendations and I will wish to take time to reflect on all of those recommendations.”
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