7A Powers of non-legal staff.

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 M1Bail 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 M2Criminal Justice Act 1987 or section 53 of the M3Criminal 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.