Changes to Merseyside Crown Prosecution Service
Letter received by the Society on 29 March 2010 from Paul Whittaker, Chief Crown Prosecutor, Merseyside Area:
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to let you know about changes we are making in Merseyside CPS which will Improve the way we deliver services to all our stakeholders.
We are taking steps to centralise our operations and our plans include merging existing teams into one location, developing spaciaiised units to manage crown court and magistrates’ court casework, and centrailsing support services to reduce duplication and increase efficiency.
I will keep you informed of our progress at key stages of this project, but wanted to take this opportunity to let you know about two key changes to be introduced shortly, the first being the centralisation of all our crown court work into a specialist team based at the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool. We will no longer be handling any of this work from our Birkenhead or Crosby offices.
Our new Crown Court Team will be in operation from 29th March 2010 and will deliver a more dedicated and enhanced service, whilst at the same time improving quality by deploying Crown Advocates, Prosecutors, Paraiegals and support teams to work together on the most serious cases dealt with In this area.
Our services to you will not be affected and I would like to briefly outline what you can expect and what the key responsibilities of this unit will be:
- All crown court cases from across Merseyside will be handled by the crown court unit from end of March.
- From this date crown court cases will no longer be assigned to or managed from the Mersey North or Wirral District offices
- All correspondence in relation to crown court cases should be directed to the named ntact (if known) at the Liver Building, or to the following address — Merseyside CPS, Crown Court Team, 71?) Floor, Royal Liver Building, Liverpool (fax number 0151 239 6440).
- A key function of the team will be to determine whether a case is appropriate to be listed for an Early Guilty Plea and liaise with the defence over the case.
- The Team will be responsible for all case preparation in relation to crown court cases and ensure papers are served on the court and defence withIn the relevant timescales
- It will assume full responsibility for crown court case progression including the timely service of, disclosure material, instructions to counsel and any additional evidence
The Unit will be led by Geoff Fryar, Senior District Crown Prosecutor, He will be supported in the management of the Unit by District Crown Prosecutors, Lynda Oldham,Mike Stephenson and Martin Decker and three Business Managers.
Lynda Oidham will have lead responsibility for case preparation and progression. The second key change is a new joint unit we have established with Merseyslde Police to deal with Rape and Serious Sexual Offences.
The unit will be known as Unity and will be operational within the FCOU at 222, Mather Avenue Liverpool, L18 0TG from 29th March 2010. It will deal with RASSO cases from across Merseyside.
The contact numbers for CPS staff within the Unit will be:-
0151 777 1326
0151 777 1341
The fax number will be 0151 777 3232
Unity will comprise of dedicated staff from CPS and Merseyside Police, as well as support organisations, with the main objectives being:
- To improve the way rape and serious sexual offence cases are handled
- To increase public confidence that complaints of rape and serious sexual offences are being properly investigated and where appropriate effectively prosecuted
- To protect the rights of victims and witnesses
- To bring offenders to justice.
Again our services to you will not be affected; however correspondence in relation to cases dealt with by the Unit should be directed to The Crown Prosecution Service, The FCOU, 222, Mather Avenue, Liverpool, L18 9TG.
The CPS team within Unity will be headed by Janet Potter, District Crown Prosecutor. The team Includes Louise Voce and Lesley Haworth, who are both Senior Crown Prosecutors and two Paralegal Officers, Sue Doyle and Carole Monaghan.
In addition to these changes we are also establishing an Area Gateway as our central contact point which will handle reception, all incoming and outgoing communications, and post. The Gateway telephone numbers will be 0151 239 6400 (reception), 0151 239 6333 (Gateway) and the fax number is 0151 239 6315.
In time we will also centralise all our magistrates’ court casework operations in Merseyside into the Royal Liver Building.
I would like to reiterate that the creation of these teams and the changes we are undertaking are designed to improve not only how cases are prepared and progressed, but also the service we provide to the Criminal Justice System and community across Merseyside.
I look forward to continuing to work with you in the future.
Yours sincerely
Paul Whittaker
Chief Crown Prosecutor
Merseyside Area
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