Ministry of Justice - Courts Section

Objective

The objective of the agreement with the Ministry of Justice is to provide for the more effective and efficient administration of the criminal justice system by:

• clearly defining the agencies' responsibilities and accountabilities to each other
• facilitating relationships between the departments and with the judiciary
• acknowledging that both departments have common goals and encouraging staff to meet these goals, and
• encouraging co-operation and co-operative working methods amongst staff.

Topics covered

The following topics are included in the schedules to the MoU:

• services provided by CPS to the Ministry of Justice, and
• services provided by the Ministry of Justice to the CPS.

Standards

National standards of service delivery have been established between the Ministry of Justice and the Community Probation Service regarding:

• the provision of pre-sentence reports by the CPS
• the provision of information and documentation by the Ministry of Justice to the CPS relevant to the preparation of pre-sentence reports
• maintenance of computer records
• serving community based orders on offenders
• notification by Courts of any appeal lodged against sentence or conviction that relates to the CPS, and notification of the outcome
• provision of Court fixture lists and Court lists for sentencing, police arrests, traffic and fines, and
• provision of facilities at Court for CPS staff.

Written complaints from Judges

In the "Reports to Criteria" screen in IOMS, there is a field in which to enter the number of "Justifiable complaints from judges".

This field refers to written complaints only. Verbal complaints should not be included.

Rationale: "Justifiable" is too subjective a term, and the Statement of Intent specifies "written complaints from Judges".

Tracking

Complaints must be tracked at a national level. Send a copy of any Judge's complaint received directly to Planning and Monitoring, CPS Head Office.