S47 While we acknowledge DOJ The Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2015 NICCY notes that no evidence the work already received Royal assent on 24 July 2015 and of how improvements to case undertaken by the the Department will make regulations which management have addressed Department of Justice will impose duties on the court, prosecution delay have been provided. In in order to avoid delay, and defence. The arrangements for relation to STLs it is robust case consultation on Statutory Case management concerning that no significant management is regulations are on target. progress has been made on necessary. The DOJ this and no timescale for should ensure that The regulations will also confer functions in achieving this is given. both statutory case the magistrate’s courts and the Crown management and Court, and will define the court’s key case statutory time limits are management responsibilities. introduced in Northern Ireland. Both have The Minister remains committed to STLs already been the and the Department is engaging with the subject of clear Justice Committee on a range of proposals recommendations by and will shortly consult with key the Criminal Justice stakeholders on improving processing times Inspection in Northern for cases within the Youth Court. Ireland. S48 PSNI should conduct a PSNI A review is currently being progressed review of resources regarding resource demand modelling which and operational may identify resource deficiencies. Work delivery in respect of has also been progressing to automate digital evidence digital evidence examination services examination to ensure utilising various projects, one of which will that any evidence of improve imaging and dissemination of CSE is provided to material for investigators to view and investigators in a another which is intended to automate the timely manner, and to examination of potential CSE material. Both
S47 While we acknowledge the work already undertaken by the Department of Justice in order to avoid delay, robust case management is necessary. The DOJ should ensure that both statutory case management and statutory time limits are introduced in Northern Ireland. Both have already been the subject of clear recommendations by the Criminal Justice Inspection in Northern Ireland. DOJ The Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2015 received Royal assent on 24 July 2015 and the Department will make regulations which will impose duties on the court, prosecution and defence. The arrangements for consultation on Statutory Case management regulations are on target. The regulations will also confer functions in the magistrate’s courts and the Crown Court, and will define the court’s key case management responsibilities. The Minister remains committed to STLs and the Department is engaging with the Justice Committee on a range of proposals and will shortly consult with key stakeholders on improving processing times for cases within the Youth Court. NICCY notes that no evidence of how improvements to case management have addressed delay have been provided. In relation to STLs it is concerning that no significant progress has been made on this and no timescale for achieving this is given. S48 PSNI should conduct a review of resources and operational delivery in respect of digital evidence examination to ensure that any evidence of CSE is provided to investigators in a timely manner, and to PSNI A review is currently being progressed regarding resource demand modelling which may identify resource deficiencies. Work has also been progressing to automate digital evidence examination services utilising various projects, one of which will improve imaging and dissemination of material for investigators to view and another which is intended to automate the examination of potential CSE material. Both
niccy-review-of-second-composite-cse-implementation-report-20-feb-2017.docx