Part III

Criminal justice system

Miscellaneous

Crown Prosecution Service: powers of non-legal staff
53
For section 7A of the 1985 Act there shall be substituted the following section—

Powers of non-legal staff
7A
1
The Director may designate, for the purposes of this section, members of the staff of the Crown Prosecution Service who are not Crown Prosecutors.
2
Subject to such exceptions (if any) as may be specified in the designation, a person so designated shall have such of the following as may be so specified, namely—
a
the powers and rights of audience of a Crown Prosecutor in relation to—
i
applications for, or relating to, bail in criminal proceedings;
ii
the conduct of criminal proceedings in magistrates' courts other than trials;
b
the powers of such a Prosecutor in relation to the conduct of criminal proceedings not falling within paragraph (a)(ii) above.
3
A person so designated shall exercise any such powers subject to instructions given to him by the Director.
4
Any such instructions may be given so as to apply generally.
5
For the purposes of this section—
a
“bail in criminal proceedings” has the same meaning as it would have in the Bail Act 1976 by virtue of the definition in section 1 of that Act if in that section “offence” did not include an offence to which subsection (6) below applies;
b
“criminal proceedings” does not include proceedings for an offence to which subsection (6) below applies; and
c
a trial begins with the opening of the prosecution case after the entry of a plea of not guilty and ends with the conviction or acquittal of the accused.
6
This subsection applies to an offence if it is triable only on indictment, or is an offence—
a
for which the accused has elected to be tried by a jury;
b
which a magistrates' court has decided is more suitable to be so tried; or
c
in respect of which a notice of transfer has been given under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 or section 53 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991.
7
Details of the following for any year, namely—
a
the criteria applied by the Director in determining whether to designate persons under this section;
b
the training undergone by persons so designated; and
c
any general instructions given by the Director under subsection (4) above,
shall be set out in the Director’s report under section 9 of this Act for that year.
1976 c. 63.
1987 c. 38.
1991 c. 53.