CPS staff sent for retraining after saying service is badly managed

The Crown Prosecution Service in London is badly managed and failing, according to a damning survey of its own staff leaked to the Standard.

Only one in 14 believes that planned reforms will improve prosecution rates, while just one in 12 feels that "change is managed well" in the organisation. When senior CPS officials were told the results, it is understood that instead of speaking to staff they ordered "retraining" for them.

The embarrassing verdict by the CPS's own people, contained in a 12-page document passed to the Standard, threatens to heap more pressure on the Government which has ordered the closure of 100 courts and a 25 per cent reduction in the CPS budget. The cuts have led to mounting fears over the public's reduced access to justice.

Prosecutors dropped tens of thousands of criminal cases in 2007, despite having enough evidence to bring offenders to court. The CPS halted action against more than 25,000 defendants because it was not in the "public interest" to continue. More than 2,000 cases destined for crown court were also thrown out because it failed to get files ready in time.

The sharpest criticism is reserved for CPS bosses. Just 21 per cent of staff believe the actions of Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and his senior staff "are consistent with the CPS's values". Only 12 per cent believe "the organisation as a whole is managed well".

A source in the CPS said staff were amazed by the retraining order, saying: "It was a strange reaction. It seemed like the higher-ups were trying to brainwash us into going along with all the damaging reforms."

Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said: "Government cuts, which are going too deep and too fast, are having a hugely negative impact across the criminal justice system."