The Disclosure modules are set out below, and you can fill in a form, if you’d like our help in choosing a course..

• Basic Disclosure Rules
  
  • This CPIA training covers the essential knowledge required by all those involved in the investigation process.  The disclosure process doesn’t just start when the case ends, it is an integral part of the investigative process…
  • Every Investigation Officer and Officer in Charge (and, of course, those acting as disclosure officers) will want to undertake this short CPIA training module regularly, to make sure they keep up-to-date with the law, the Attorney General’s guidelines…
    

• Disclosure Officer
  
  • Sorting out what to disclose, when to disclose it, how to disclose it, when not to disclose it, who to disclose it to, what else to look for, how to show you’ve done it properly…That’s proper training for a disclosure officer!
  • Every Disclosure Officer is required to confirm that they are properly trained in the subject and when they last undertook training.  Make sure your CPIA Disclosure Officer training is up to date!
    
  • Everyone who acts as Disclosure Officer on either their own or others’ cases should undertake this training.

• Advanced Disclosure Officer
  
  • Everything we said about Disclosure Officers applies even more so to those who routinely deal with serious / multi-agency / large-scale investigations and to those nominated by their organisation as the disclosure specialist.
    
  • This course covers the issues most likely to be encountered in the more involved cases.

• Civil & Employment Disclosure Officer
  
  • All those – that is a Disclosure Officer, Investigation Officer or Officer in Charge – who carry out either stand-alone civil or dual/triple track investigations will want to understand the differences between civil / employment and criminal disclosure and the complexities of carrying out civil disclosure alongside employment investigations, and / or alongside criminal investigations.
    

• Disclosure and Case File Manager
  
  • Disclosure isn’t, as you know, a standalone process – it needs to be integrated into the actions of the investigation team and then monitored, to ensure that errors are picked up and rectified.
  • The National File Standard process requires that second signature – a second pair of eyes to review prosecution submissions before they are authorised or passed to the legal team.
  • The CPS Director’s Charging Guidelines sets out the requirement for authorising managers to ensure disclosure reviews have been carried out effectively, and understand the impact of any disclosure considerations on the admissibility and effectiveness of evidence in the case.
  • This course is designed for all those with management / supervisory responsibility for any Disclosure Officer and anyone who authorises prosecutions or approves and certifies cases to be passed to the prosecutor.

You can download the above summary information about these courses by clicking here. For full course information sheets, please use the links below.
Basic Disclosure Rules
Disclosure Officer
Advanced Disclosure Officer
Civil & Employment Disclosure Officer
Disclosure & Case File Manager

For more information about these courses, please contact mike@its-training-uk.com, call us on 0330 022 8262 or fill in this form :

Name *

First

Last

Email *

What does your job ential? *

• I investigate straightforward enforcement cases.
• I investigate routine criminal cases.
• I investigate complex criminal cases.
• I investigate cases that date back over a long period (many months or longer).
• I operate as disclosure officer on my own straightforward enforcement cases.
• I am disclosure officer on routine or complex criminal cases.
• I investigate civil cases of any type (stand-alone or alongside criminal cases).
• I investigate members of staff.
• I am expercted to be a disclosure expert for my team.
• I have to sign off cases for prosecution.
• I have to ensure that there are proper CPIA / disclosure systems for my team.
• I have to ensure that people follow the correct processes for CPIA / disclosure.
• I act as a lay prosecutor for my organisation.
• I am a lawyer.

Phone number

(Just in case we have any questions about your answers!)

Anything else you want to tell us?

Submit

Back to the top of the page!

Hearsay
If you need to use hearsay evidence at court, there’s a new form for that, which you can access via our downloads page.

Getting into Court in the First PLace
Prosecutors can now register for the common platform and this pdf from HMCTS tells you what you need to know.

If you need to now more about preparing the ‘paperwork’ for court cases, this is covered in National File Standard training (opens in new tab).

If you need to access MG forms, you can do this via our downloads page (opens in new tab).

URGENT – New PET Form and Notes Now in Use
For information and links to new PET forms and guidance, click here.
Anyone involved in the Magistrates’ Court process as a prosecutor (including lay prosecutors) needs to be aware of the new form authorised by the Lord Chief Justice. The Crim PR forms page has been updated today (4th June) with the forms coming into effect on Monday 7th June. If you have an unrepresented defendant, then you should make sure that they have a copy of the new guidance for using the forms, which is designed for defendants who are not represented by lawyers.

Whilst the changes in the forms are not major, there are changes, and you must familiarise yourself with those. The courts will not accept old versions of these forms, so you do need to ensure that you have downloaded and used this current version.

You can access the forms and guidance via the online portal at : www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparation-for-trial-in-a-magistrates-court

You can access the Criminal Procedure Rules Forms page here :
www.gov.uk/guidance/criminal-procedure-rules-forms

The Criminal Procedure Rules and Practice Directions (the most recent update was 2020) can be found here :
www.gov.uk/guidance/rules-and-practice-directions-2020

This new form is covered in our Court Skills and National File Standard training, and also forms part of the Effective Disclosure Management course (dates below).

Currently availavble open courses :

If you would like a course for just your team, please get in touch.

Back to the top of the page!

Articles and Links

Chris Norris has written a short article about the December 2020 changes to disclosure and related items, which you can read by clicking here.

Back to the top of the page!

In case you haven’t noticed, the management and disclosure of unused material have been causing a bit of concern recently.  To be honest, I’m not that surprised – we anticipated this several years ago and wrote a course accordingly.  There seem to be four issues at play here and, between them, they cause an immense amount of confusion.

The first is when to start considering unused material.  For years this has been seen, wrongly I’d submit, as something to do at the end of an investigation.  The problems this causes are many but maybe the two main ones are that (a) you’re left with a vast amount of work to do in a short space of time and – more importantly – (b) that there is no active consideration of the unused material during the currency of the investigation.

The considering and categorising of material shouldn’t be something that is done in a rush ;  it is integral to the investigation that all leads are carefully considered and followed when this would be appropriate.  As part of that process, material that is to remain ‘unused’ should be categorised immediately in relation to its relevance and sensitivity.  At the same time, the likely existence of other potential material can be considered and the investigation pointed towards it at the appropriate time.

Secondly, consider how the problems caused by waiting until the end of the investigation are compounded by the volume of information that we can easily acquire during any investigation.  Given the vast amounts of material that are available to any open-sorcerer worth their salt, storage on PCs and mobile devices and the vast plethora of files retained by investigative organisations, management of these during an investigation is key.

Given the duty to Review the materials that we have Recorded and Retained, it is essential that they are managed in an accessible way – not simply kept on a file to be looked at later.  How can we possibly show that we are complying with the duty to review and follow up as appropriate if there is no master list of what we’ve obtained.

Then there’s the issue of securing third party unused material before it goes astray.  We’ve a duty to ensure that such material is available, as far as is possible.  Closely allied to this is the duty to notice material that we could acquire that could meet the disclosure test and to secure it (or possible to follow it as a lead – after all, if it might undermine our case or assist the defendant…).

Fourthly there’s the proper consideration and disclosure of unused material, in accordance with the guidelines.  This does NOT require the listing of material gathered during the investigation that is (now that you’ve finished and can see how everything fits together) irrelevant.  Nor does the code allow for the wholesale disclosure of everything to defence, on the grounds that it’s non-sensitive and can do no harm.  Prosecutors must only disclose material that (a) passes the disclosure test and (b) is non-sensitive, redacted, or where the duty to disclose trumps the level of sensitivity.

Starting point :  get managing those documents early.  If it helps, feel free to download the ‘MG Everything’ from this link.

Finally, CPIA and the Disclosure regime has been overhauled, with some fairly sweeping changes for 2021 (coming into play from 31/12/2020). These changes are, in our view, exactly what was needed to bring Disclosure up to date. In particular there is now an emphasis on the overarching duty of Common Law Disclosure, working more closely with The Defence to make sensible Disclosure decisions, evidencing effective Disclosure strategies, making proper use of Streamlined Disclosure Process, and demonstrating that you have up to date training that qualifies you to carry out Disclosure Officer duties.

Click here to read the August 2022 update to the Criminal Procedure Rules.

Some big changes for investigation and prosecution file management for the new year….

There are new CPS Director’s Charging Guidelines available and these have been revised to recognise the new national Disclosure Guidelines. It’s interesting to note that, in addition to the changes affecting disclosure, they also require full adherence to the National File Standard.

The Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure December 2020 and the CPIA 1996 Code of Practice Order 2020 are now in force, replacing the 2013 Disclosure Guidelines and Digital Material Guidelines. These show significant changes to the way we must now manage unused material (including, obviously anything that appears to undermine the prosecution case or assist defence).

In particular there is now an emphasis on the overarching duty of Common Law Disclosure and working more closely with defence to make sensible disclosure decisions. There’s a requirement to evidence effective disclosure strategies, to make proper use of the Streamlined Disclosure Process feature, and a need to demonstrate that you have up to date training that qualifies you to carry out Disclosure Officer duties.

Those investigating offences that have taken place in the past (and that’s a majority of Fraud cases) will be very interested in the requirements for a disclosure policy document / strategy.

And if this wasn’t enough, the Criminal Justice System Common Platform continues its development for full national rollout (it’s already working in some areas). It’s looking likely that, eventually, ALL PROSECUTING AGENCIES (including local authorities) will need to manage appropriate prosecution cases online, using the Common Platform and to engage with the Single Justice Procedure. At ITS we’re currently anticipating full national rollout in relation to these areas within the next couple of years.

Make sure you understand your current CPIA Disclosure obligations and get prepared for the coming changes – cases are going to be lost if you don’t!

Make sure you understand your current CPIA Disclosure obligations and get prepared for the coming changes – cases are going to be lost if you don’t!

Back to the top of the page!