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Terms of reference for an Inspection of the management of organisational performance in the PPS

17/09/2024
Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) proposes to undertake an inspection of the management of organisational performance in the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPS).
The PPS was established in 2005.  Since the devolution of policing and justice to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2010, it has been designated as a non-ministerial government department. The Director of the PPS and Attorney General consult with each other from time to time on any matter for which the Attorney General is accountable to the Northern Ireland Assembly.  Funding for the PPS is provided by the Northern Ireland Assembly though the Department of Finance.  It has offices across four locations and structured into 6 legal sections and a corporate services unit.
 
Organisational performance involves an assessment of how effectively and efficiently an organisation achieves its goals and objectives to deliver its stated outcomes.  This will involve strategic planning, alignment with Government / Departmental priorities, setting and measurement of performance metrics and activities, matching resources to demand, engaging and communicating, utilising the skills and experience of its people and instilling a culture of continuous improvement.
 
The focus on this inspection is not an assessment of case file quality, nor how or when prosecutorial decisions are made in individual cases. It is a strategic overview of PPS organisational performance management and the effectiveness of plans and actions for improvement.
 
 
Context
 
Organisational performance management has been a regular component of CJI inspections over the last 20 years, often featuring in key recommendations for improvement.  Shared priority areas for delivery such as tackling avoidable delay and improving the experiences of victims and witnesses have provided a much-needed focus on performance across the criminal justice system.  In 2017, CJI published ‘Made to Measure: The Availability and Use of Management and Performance Management Information in the Criminal Justice System’[1].  This inspection highlighted the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in measuring inputs and outputs but raised concerns about ineffectiveness in measuring the impact of activities or achievement of outcomes.  With the focus on Government and public services towards an outcomes-based approach, effective performance management was cited as a key tool in achieving improved outcomes.[2]  This inspection called for improved performance measures, a longer-term approach to reporting and effective oversight and accountability frameworks within organisations and across the criminal justice system.
 
Since 2006, CJI has published a series of reports highlighting concerns regarding the persistence of avoidable delay[3],[4] within the criminal justice system.  CJI’s 2023 report on ‘File Quality, Disclosure and Case Progression and Trial Recovery from the Covid-19 Pandemic’[5] confirmed the inter-dependencies between poor quality cases files, the timeliness of PPS decision making, poor disclosure practices and repeated court adjournments, CJI recommendations made in 2015[6] were repeated including the need for a Joint PPS / Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Performance Framework and the development of effective performance indicators.
 
A 2013 CJI inspection of corporate governance in the PPS provided a focus on improving organisational and business performance.[7]  Making three strategic recommendations, this report highlighted the need for effective performance management including the establishment of an effective benchmarking framework, an objective assessment process for PPS Prosecutors and a review of the capacity model[8] to incorporate a wider range of management information.  A 2018 Follow-Up Review[9] assessed two of these recommendations as achieved, with the assessment process for PPS Prosecutors partially achieved.
 
In more recent times the PPS has been publicly criticised for being too slow in making prosecutorial decisions and progressing cases to trial, particularly in high profile and complex legacy cases. This is against a backdrop of often cited resource pressures, embedded hybrid working and criminal justice system COVID-19 pandemic (pandemic) recovery for the PPS.
 
Accountability for service quality and managing organisational performance in the PPS has two key aspects: through joint criminal justice system initiatives, mainly led and co-ordinated by the Criminal Justice Board, and secondly through internal organisational business planning and projects.  Recovering from the pandemic and speeding up justice have been priorities for the Criminal Justice Board with the PPS leading a project on securing early engagement between Investigators and Prosecutors as well as defence representatives to reduce avoidable delays.  At the same time, the PPS 2030 strategy has set a pathway for effective utilisation and matching budget and resources to known demands.  PPS data shows a falling trend in cases received over the past decade and a corresponding reduction in decisions made by Prosecutors.  The PPS had reported an increasing complexity in case types (when road traffic cases are excluded).  As part of an effort to reduce demand, the PPS have also worked with the PSNI on a ‘no prosecution’ pilot where Investigating Officers were no longer required to submit files to the PPS for consideration where a ‘no prosecution’ recommendation[10] was made in agreed categories of cases. 
 
 
Aims of the Inspection
 
This Inspection will assess the effectiveness of the management of organisational performance in the PPS, including how the PPS assures itself and others of its performance, communicates this internally and externally, plans and takes action for improvement.  The broad aims of the Inspection are to:
 
  • Evaluate the PPS’s strategic plans, their alignment with criminal justice system priorities and outcomes and their clarity and relevance to PPS staff, service delivery and performance;
  • Review the PPS governance structures and accountability mechanisms;
  • Examine leadership effectiveness in fostering a performance orientated culture including effectiveness of engagement and communication;
  • Evaluate the PPS’s organisational structure and its alignment with strategic goals;
  • Analyse and evaluate the allocation and utilisation of resources;
  • Examine the existing organisational performance management systems, processes and tools;
  • Assess the effectiveness of organisational performance outcomes, how they are communicated in the PPS and externally and their role in decision-making; and
  • Examine the quality assurance measures and continuous improvement practices including learning and scope for benchmarking with other Prosecutorial services.
 
Any other matters of significance arising during the course of the inspection, if considered appropriate by CJI, may also be included.  As the inspection progresses, Inspectors may determine it necessary to focus on a specific aspect of the Terms of Reference while always adopting a risk-based approach.
 
 
Methodology
 
This inspection will be based on the CJI Inspection Framework.  The three main elements of the Inspection Framework are:
 
  • Strategy and governance;
  • Delivery; and
  • Outcomes.
 
Constants in each of the three framework elements and throughout each inspection are equality and fairness, together with standards and best practice.  The CJI inspection methodology can be found at The Inspection Process on our website.
 
 
Design and Planning
 
Preliminary research
All relevant documentation including corporate strategies and business plans, external reports, minutes of meetings, performance management, financial management and monitoring information, risk registers, internal and external survey results and any other relevant internal reviews, papers and correspondence will be requested and reviewed.  Relevant benchmarking documentation and best practice evidence regarding the delivery of prosecution services in other jurisdictions will also be collated and reviewed.
 
Contact with agencies
A planning meeting will be held with the PPS and Terms of Reference will be prepared and shared with the PPS and the Department of Justice (DoJ).
 
Delivery
 
External expertise
Specialist external expertise will be sought from HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate to act in an advisory capacity to CJI Inspectors. 
 
Stakeholder consultation
CJI will consult with stakeholder organisations, including:
 
  • Lady Chief Justice’s Office
  • Attorney General for Northern Ireland;
  • PSNI;
  • DoJ;
  • Probation Board for Northern Ireland;
  • Northern Ireland Prison Service;
  • Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service;
  • Bar Library;
  • Law Society of Northern Ireland;
  • Victim Support Northern Ireland;
  • Commissioner Designate for Victims of Crime; and
  • Trade Unions in PPS.
 
Self-assessment
A bespoke self-assessment will be requested from the PPS and relevant supporting documentation supplied.  The PPS will be asked to nominate a liaison officer for the purposes of this inspection.
 
Development of fieldwork plan
The views of PPS staff are an integral part of this inspection and will be gathered by a bespoke online survey and/or access to raw data survey results conducted separately as part of a recent review of the PPS.  The PPS self-assessment will guide inspectors on the added value of a survey.   
 
A series of one-to-one interviews will be conducted with senior leaders in the PPS alongside focus groups with staff members across different grades, departments and offices.  These will be used to give Inspectors an insight into the organisation, the development and dissemination of corporate strategic aims and objectives and delivery against these, as well as the use of performance information to inform decision-making and improvement plans.
 
Initial feedback to agency.
On conclusion of the fieldwork the evidence will be collated, triangulated and analysed and emerging findings will be developed.  CJI will then present the findings to the PPS.
 
Drafting of report
Following completion of the fieldwork and data analysis a draft report will be shared with the PPS for factual accuracy check.  The Chief Inspector will invite the PPS to complete an action plan within six weeks to address the recommendations and if the plan has been agreed and is available it will be published.  The Inspection Report will be shared, under embargo, in advance of the publication date with the PPS.

Publication and Closure
 
A report will be sent to the Minister of Justice for permission to publish.  When permission is received the report will be finalised for publication.  A press release will be drafted and shared with the PPS and DoJ prior to publication and release. 
 
Indicative Timetable
Scoping/Research: July-August 2024.
Stakeholder consultation: August-September 2024.
PPS self-assessment completed:  September 2024.
Fieldwork: October-November 2024.
Draft Report to agencies: February 2025.
Factual accuracy feedback received: March 2025.
 
The above timetable may be impacted by factors outside CJI’s control.  The inspected organisations will be kept advised of any significant changes to the indicative timetable.
 
 
[1] CJI, Made to Measure: The Available and Use of Management and Performance Management Information in the Criminal Justice System, September 2017, available at https://www.cjini.org/getattachment/f226bf03-e6b3-44f6-b2af-96f4412364e0/report.aspx.
[2] Northern Ireland Audit Office, Performance management for outcomes: A good practice guide for public bodies, June 2018, available at https://www.niauditoffice.gov.uk/files/niauditoffice/media-files/NIAO_performance%20management%20for%20outcomes.pdf.
[3] CJI, Avoidable Delay, A thematic inspection of delay in the processing of criminal cases in Northern Ireland, May 2006, available at https://www.cjini.org/getattachment/ed9d97d7-a15f-4fa5-90d1-3e3867124c21/Avoidable-Delay-May-2006.aspx.
[5] CJI, An inspection of file quality, disclosure and case progression and trial recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, June 2023, available at https://www.cjini.org/getattachment/b88cbf6f-05c2-4ba5-baff-4ff8e96b897a/report.aspx.
[6] CJI, An inspection of the quality and timeliness of police files (incorporating disclosure) submitted to the public prosecution service for Northern Ireland, November 2015, available at https://www.cjini.org/getattachment/9faaa7ad-b1a9-4d66-bd35-79ff20848c7c/report.aspx.
[7] CJI, A corporate governance inspection of the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland, April 2013, available at https://www.cjini.org/getattachment/1b8e142e-9f17-41b5-8674-fec5c0521706/report.aspx.
[8] The Capacity Model refers to the PPS approach to changing demand.  At the time of the 2013 corporate governance inspection this primarily focussed on the resource available to process the cases received.
[9] CJI, A Follow-Up Review of the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland’s Response to Strategic Inspection Recommendations made between 2013 and 2015, February 2018, available at https://www.cjini.org/getattachment/ca8c5bc9-213d-4756-9eb2-7c5359fce085/report.aspx.
[10] A ‘no prosecution’ recommendation may be made by an investigating officer in cases where the investigating officers determines that the evidential test cannot be met.

Please note: URLs included in these Terms of Reference may stop working overtime