The Crown Prosecution Service has apologised to a solicitor who was told that she could not have a prosecutor’s phone number due to data protection laws.

Earlier this week, Natalie Berman, a partner at criminal defence firm Edward Fail, Bradshaw & Waterson, tweeted that she was told by the CPS that defence practitioners can no longer have a prosecutor’s direct number due to the General Data Protection Regulation. Berman questioned how defence solicitors are supposed to engage with the CPS reviewing lawyer, as required by the Criminal Procedure Rules, ‘if we can’t directly call them and they don’t answer emails’.

The CPS told the Gazette that it had apologised for what it called a 'misunderstanding'.

A spokesperson said: ‘Early engagement between prosecutors and defence representatives is essential to ensure cases progress effectively and in a timely fashion and prosecutor contact details will be shared with legal representatives. What happened in this instance was a misunderstanding for which we have apologised. We are reminding staff of the process to avoid this happening in the future.’

The confusion comes shortly after publication of the CPS Inspectorate’s annual report for 2021/22, which revealed a decline in the quality of decision-making within the agency due to ‘demanding circumstances’.

In a letter to the attorney general, chief inspector Andrew Cayley CMG KC said that, due to the need to address the growing Crown court backlog, CPS areas had moved to less experienced prosecutors from the magistrates’ court units to the Crown court, rape and serious sexual offences units.

‘This has resulted in a significant degree of staff “churn” and has required areas to continue to train, mentor and support new and existing staff often remotely without face-to-face contact.

‘Our findings show that these demanding circumstances have resulted in a drop in the quality of legal decision making. The CPS assure me that as working conditions revert to normal, prosecutors settle and become more experienced in their new roles and case backlogs diminish, the focus on the delivery of high-quality casework will be a priority once again. We will be assessing casework quality once more in follow-up inspections in January 2023.’

Commenting on the report, a CPS spokesperson said: ‘HMCPSI has a vital role in scrutinising our work to drive improvements and build public confidence in the prosecution process. Throughout this period of inspections, we were pleased to see the hard work and dedication of our staff recognised across the CPS, given the challenging circumstances they have been working in since the pandemic.

‘Each inspection report has been considered in full and feedback taken on board. We look forward to working closely with HMCPSI and our partners to continue to improve all aspects of our work.’

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