Minutes from the Criminal Cases Review Commission Board Meetings in 2022:
Minutes of the Board Meeting
Monday 24 January 2022 at 10.30-12.15
Meeting held remotely by video conference
Present:
Mrs Helen Pitcher (Chairman)
Miss Karen Kneller (Chief Executive)
Ms Amanda Pearce (Casework Operations Director)
Mr Peter Ryan (Finance & Corporate Services Director)
Mr David Brown (Non-Executive Director)
Mrs Linda Lee (Non-Executive Director)
Mr Rob Ward (Non-Executive Director)
Mr Andre Katz (Independent Non-Executive Director)
Mr Mark Oldham (Independent Non-Executive Director)
Mr Martin Spencer (Independent Non-Executive Director)
Welcome:
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the year and introduced the Head of Business Planning & Performance.
Declarations of interest:
None
3. Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising:
The minutes of the previous Board meeting held on 30 November 2021 were approved. There were no matters arising.
4. Actions Matrix:
All actions were complete.
5. Chairman’s update:
The Chairman provided a verbal update to the Board. The Minister, Tom Pursglove MP had requested an introductory meeting with the Chairman which was arranged for 3 February. A great deal of time was being spent on Commissioner recruitment and reappointments with MoJ including bringing Commissioner’s appraisals forward. In consideration of Covid restrictions the Chairman’s visit to Northern Ireland had been postponed and replaced with remote meetings.
The Chairman congratulated Linda Lee, Commissioner on her recent success in becoming a Deputy District Judge.
6. Chief Executive’s report:
The Management Information Pack was noted. The CEO reported that discussions were ongoing with MoJ to agree an increased fee for Commissioners which was holding up the start of the next recruitment campaign. Two new CRMs had started, and an open-ended CRM recruitment drive was being launched in March. A lot of work was going on to fill vacancies across the organisation and it was anticipated that there would be 10-12 new starters by the end of March. Pay remains a huge issue for staff. MoJ have requested a budget submission for a 3-year settlement.
The Board discussed casework portfolio sizes, the pressure on caseworkers and the need to recruit more CRMs. The COD oversees size of portfolios to make sure the targets are realistic and to support staff.
The CEO updated the Board on FOI.
The campaign for a Head of External Affairs and Communications had produced over 100 candidates.
7. Casework report to note:
The casework report was noted by the Board. The COD reported that there had been 5 referrals in November/December bringing the total in the business year to 14 and more were being prepared.
The COD reported on the introduction of the Senior CRM role which had been well received by staff. The purpose of the role was to exemplify and drive improvements, provide CRM development opportunities and share knowledge. The senior CRMs were also assisting with some of the corporate issues that needed input.
8. Casework KPIs for 2022-23:
The COD reported that she had looked at splitting KPI 1 into three timeliness categories.
1a – percentage of all cases completed within 12 months; 1b – percentage of review cases completed within 12 months and 1c – the percentage of triage cases completed within 4 months. The proposed targets of 70% for KPI 1b and 80% for KPI 1c were approved as realistic considering current portfolio sizes. The COD would keep under review gradually increasing the targets over a 3-year period.
The target for KPI 2 had previously been increased to 36 weeks to reflect the anticipated impact of closing the large number of long-running Post Office cases. However, those cases were no longer impacting the 12-month figures and the Board approved reverting to the previous target of 30 weeks.
9. Transformation Programme update:
The report was noted by the Board. The Finance & Corporate Services Director reported that four of the five outstanding projects had been closed within the budget and timescales. The remaining HR modules would be completed in March and April. The Benefits Realisation will take place in March with the formal project sign-off in April 2022.
Minutes of the Board Meeting
Monday 28 March 2022 at 10.30-12.15
Meeting held remotely by video conference
Present:
Mrs Helen Pitcher (Chairman)
Miss Karen Kneller (Chief Executive)
Ms Amanda Pearce (Casework Operations Director)
Mr Peter Ryan (Finance & Corporate Services Director)
Mr David Brown (Non-Executive Director)
Mrs Linda Lee (Non-Executive Director)
Mr Rob Ward (Non-Executive Director)
Mr Andre Katz (Independent Non-Executive Director)
Mr Mark Oldham (Independent Non-Executive Director)
Mr Martin Spencer (Independent Non-Executive Director)
Welcome & Apologies:
No apologies
Declarations of interest:
None
3. Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising:
The minutes of the previous Board meeting held on 24 January 2022 were approved. There were no matters arising.
4. Actions Matrix:
All actions were complete.
5. Chairman’s update:
The Chairman provided a verbal update to the Board. At a recent meeting with the Westminster Commission, they had commended the CCRC for their hard work and for adopting the recommendations where relevant. Subsequently, Barry Sheerman MP had asked questions in parliament about our funding, budget and Commissioner appointments. The Chairman had been invited to attend an event on the future of the Justice Commission and broadening the work of the APPG.
The Chairman had met with the Permanent Secretary, Antonia Romeo and reiterated her concerns about delays in processing reappointments. The work of the Public Chairs’ Forum was also discussed.
6. Chief Executive’s report:
The Management Information Pack was noted. The CEO reported that work on the Business Plan was progressing and this would come to the Board in May following input from the Strategy Day. Interviews were taking place imminently for the new Head of External Affairs and Communications role.
‘Your Consultation Group’ comprising ex-offenders some with legal knowledge, had joined the stakeholder forum. It was hoped to formalise the relationship and take part in some of their prison surgeries. Some limited funding would be provided to support their work and to facilitate the Commission accessing potential applicants in prison.
The Board noted that the two recent bids from production companies were not going ahead; it was understood that it was important to find the right partner.
Staff sickness absence in February was 2.9% of the available working days; the CEO would ask how the figures compared with similar organisations. The CEO would ask the Head of HR to do some analysis.
New initiatives were being introduced across the Commission to ensure staff remain connected. These included Casework Question Time events and a new health and wellbeing page on Sharepoint, to help create more non-work interaction amongst staff.
The Board was concerned that the actual headcount was 24 under budget. The COD reported that the new refreshed CRM recruitment pack was launched in March. Targeted advertising had been introduced and online applications were now available. Further, 12 of those vacancies had been filled but we were waiting for start dates.
7. Casework report to note:
The casework report was noted by the Board. The COD reported that 20 referrals had been made by the end of February and it was anticipated there would be 26 by the end of the year. Following completion of two section 15 cases a further direction had been received from the Court of Appeal to conduct a section15 investigation.
A number of casework staff had recently started at the Commission. Recruitment would be taking place for an additional lawyer for the legal department and for the next cohort of Kalisher interns.
The Board agreed it would be worthwhile to look broadly at KPIs and take soundings to see how useful they are to stakeholders. This would be undertaken as part of the planning for the new corporate plan.
8. Westminster Commission update:
The Board noted the paper detailing the progress against actions from the Westminster Commission report.
Two research projects were underway to consider the issue of Exceptional Circumstances and the approach to No Appeal applications, including a review of the guidance on ECs.
The COD reported that the guidance on communicating with applicants was being updated. In April 2022 call recording is to be introduced to monitor and enhance handling of telephone calls from applicants. Also, a new freephone number for applicants is being rolled out, beginning with those whose cases are under review.
Following an internal audit, updated guidance is being introduced and the Decision Pathway templates updated to ensure that we always record reasons for the decision not/to issue a PSOR. Group Leaders are looking at the quality of drafting and reasoning in SORs.
9. Post Office – outreach to potential and successful applicants:
The Manager of Applicant Engagement joined the meeting and together with the COD updated the Board on the outreach work in relation to Post Office cases.
Out of the 707 ‘Potential Future Appellants’ (PFAs) identified by the Post Office, only 144 have appealed or applied to the CCRC and 186 are currently engaging with the Post Office’s disclosure exercise. We are contacting 172 people whose addresses are confirmed and have not engaged with the Post Office’s disclosure exercise. In addition, we are writing to 112 who have only recently received a letter from the Post Office.
Several successful applicants have been approached about their potential involvement with engagement/outreach/stakeholder initiatives. A small number had replied and spoken to the Manager of Applicant Engagement.
The Board thanked the team for their energy and enthusiasm for the outreach work being carried out in connection with these cases.
10. Transformation Programme Report to note:
The report was noted by the Board. The Finance & Corporate Services Director reported that the Programme Status was GREEN. Since the January report, the Programme had successfully rolled out two additional HR system modules. The remaining modules within the project continued to make steady progress.
The Board discussed the budget underspend. The revenue underspend was mainly on staff costs. We have faced difficulties attracting new staff, as have many businesses in the UK. The delay in confirming our 21/22 budget allocation hampered our recruitment plans, considering it takes 6 to 9 months to recruit for some roles. Also, we faced competition from both private and public sector employers trying to fill vacancies. There were also delays outside of our control in recruiting for new Commissioners which we have not yet been able to commence. Casework staff have been particularly difficult to recruit with pay being a barrier to attracting the right people. Security clearance formalities also impact the time it takes to on board new starters. Currently we have 24 vacancies of which 12 are waiting to start. We have seen recruitment success through offering home working with several new starters living outside the daily Birmingham commute area.
11. People for discussion:
The Board noted that staff were interested in the forthcoming strategy event; the CEO said a staff strategy event would take place over the summer. The COD reported that the new HR system meant the recruitment process was more efficient and offers to CRMs were likely to be made at the end of May. It was anticipated that by September the headcount would be up to complement across the organisation. The CEO noted that a large proportion of staff were on temporary contracts and that some of these posts needed to be made permanent to ensure stability.
12. Any other business:
None
13. Date of next meeting:
Tuesday 24 May 2022 at 10.30 am