Customs and Excise solicitors told they 'must do better'

Sound but must do better - that was the verdict of the first ever inspection of the prosecutions group of the Solicitor to HM Customs and Excise.

But concerns were raised about the fact that in some cases the group's lawyers did not have all the relevant material.

And inspectors noted that the quality of the group's in-house lawyers was 'considered by others to be mixed, with a possible advocacy training need for some'.

The pilot investigation, undertaken by the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, found that the quality of casework was 'sound', but pre-charge and summons advice was not always prompt.

There was also a 'lack of clarity' about the responsibility between lawyers' and administrators' decisions to drop cases on public interest grounds.

The inspectorate deemed overall case preparation to be sound, but felt there was 'scope for improvement' in committal preparation and instructions to counsel.

It made three recommendations to underpin the independence of the group including requiring that the senior lawyer responsible for any prosecution must have access to all material where disclosure is in issue.

Chris Baker