THE CROWN Prosecution Service (CPS) has backed away from using private consultants to help it respond to Sir Iain Glidewell's inquiry into the service.
The CPS's decision to seek outside help in the run-up to the publication of the Glidewell report, expected to be published this week, caused a media storm when it was revealed by The Lawyer in March.
The service had planned to use Crown Business Communications to produce a video on the report, which could be shown to members of staff across the country on the day of its publication.
It also drafted in ex-employees, Derek Wiblin and Bill Clark, to help it respond to the report's preliminary findings.
But last week, Lyn Salisbury, CPS head of communication, confirmed that Crown Business Communications would not be used and, although she refused to comment on Wiblin and Clark's status, The Lawyer understands that their services have been dispensed with.
Crown Business Communications was one of four firms which tendered for the job of presenting the report's results.
Salisbury said: “We identified a company that we could use if we thought there was a need, but no contract was signed. It was a case of forward planning.”
She would not comment on rumours that the plan had been put on the back burner at the instructions of the Attorney General, John Morris, and she stressed the firm could be used at some point in the future.
Managing director Nicky Havelaa said the company was still waiting to hear what the CPS had in mind for it.
