ABSTRACT
Before a decision to prosecute is taken there will have been an investigation of the offence. This will initially have been by means of obtaining statements from any complainant and witnesses and by inspection of premises and articles or substances. Later there may have been interviews undertaken having regard to the requirements of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the relevant codes of practice. These interviews may have been taped or a written record may have been made. Where appropriate exhibits will have been obtained and some form of prosecution file assembled. Currently there exists for Environmental Health professionals no national standards as to what such a prosecution file should contain. Each authority therefore operates according to its own rules and standards. There does exist however some guidance as to what such a file ought to contain. In 1990 the Joint Agency Working Group on Pre-trial Issues made a number of recommendations in relation to police prosecution files which, with appropriate amendments, could be suitable for the work of the Environmental Health Officer. The group comprised representatives from the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Crown Prosecution Service, the police, the Justices Clerks Society and the Home Office. As a result common national standards for prosecution files now exist and police forces now use common national forms on all files. These forms include:
• File front sheets • File content check lists • Witness lists • Defendant detail forms • Witness non-availability forms • Confidential information forms
• Criminal Justice Act statements • Exhibit list • Record of Taped Interview forms. Recommendations regarding the preparation and submission of police files to the Crown Prosecution Service have been incorporated into a Manual of Guidance which is issued to all forces. Liaison with their local police force on this is likely to prove useful to Environmental Health departments. Since November 1995, following a recommendation of the Pre-Trial Issues Steering Group, it has been seen to be appropriate to provide shorter case files for cases likely to result in a guilty plea. Such files will only contain:
• Key witness statements, establishing each element of the offence • A guide to the prosecution case. This would indicate where the evi-
dence to prove the elements of the offence are to be found.
