Government proclamations that the Crown Prosecution Service is a champion of victims’ rights are ‘a damaging misrepresentation of reality’, a report said this week.

The report by the House of Commons Justice Committee praised the CPS for its collaborative working with police, but raised concerns over the case management of in-house advocates and the increasing use of conditional cautions.

The report also said it was ‘deeply concerned’ that victims and witnesses with mental health problems were often disregarded as credible witnesses or not provided with special measures to help them testify effectively.

The committee found that the public does not have a clear picture of the place of the CPS within the criminal justice system. It noted that its role had developed ‘incrementally’ rather than through an ‘overall vision’.

A CPS spokeswoman said a recent CPS document set out its threefold role in protecting the public, supporting victims and delivering justice.

She said the CPS had set out new policies to assist victims and witnesses with learning disabilities.