The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is developing a bespoke witness management IT system to support the national roll-out of the government's new witness care units.

The system, which is based on the CPS' existing Compass case management system, will be implemented in the witness care units that have already been set up in each of the 42 criminal justice areas across England and Wales. It will also be supplied to the 100-plus additional units that will be opened by the end of 2005.


The roll-out follows the success of the £36 million 'No Witness, No Justice' pilot, which looked at how agencies such as the CPS and the police could develop a more co-ordinated approach towards witnesses and victims of crime. The government says the initiative will encourage more witnesses to attend court, leading to fewer trials being adjourned.


The IT system will be released in two stages. In June, the first version will allow witness care staff to access information held on Compass on a read-only basis and to add new documents. A second release, planned for November, will provide new screens allowing staff to view the case from a witness' perspective.


Claire Hamon, CPS director of business information systems, said: 'Like Compass, it is a browser-based system - users will access the information through their own infrastructure. Some of the data (on Compass) is of great value to the broader criminal justice system and through the witness management system we are enabling people with the necessary authority to access that information.'


She said that security would be stringent, and that users would only be able to view the information they were authorised to see.


Ms Hamon added: 'It will not be a static development - we will continue to work with users to meet their business needs.'