Chapter 10: Home Office

The Government is tackling crime and strengthening communities in this Review by:

raising police spending to record levels;
targeting vehicle crime to be cut by 30 per cent, burglaries by 25 per cent and robberies in our principal cities by 14 per cent;
making major investment in local crime prevention;
increasing the effectiveness of punishment with prison and probation programmes based on 'what works' principles to cut re-offending;
regularly publishing information to promote race equality in public services and increasing the representativeness of police, prison, probation and fire services; and
giving refugees more help to settle in the UK while enforcing refusals of asylum more rigorously with at least 30,000 people removed each year.

10.1 The aim of the Home Office is to build a safe, just and tolerant society, in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. These objectives were reflected in the range of Public Service Agreement targets to which the Home Office committed itself after the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review. They are central to the Government's commitment to establish healthy and secure communities.

10.2 Car crime has fallen by 17 per cent since March 1997. Police forces are recycling 2 per cent annual efficiency gains into front-line policing. A Crime Reduction Programme is gathering evidence of effective new strategies. The average time taken to deal with persistent young offenders has fallen from 142 days to 96 days. New legislation has been brought in on terrorism and on human rights.

Spending on our key services

10.3 Crime reduction is the overriding priority for Home Office services. The Government rejects the idea that crime is inevitable. It has set targets to reduce the crimes which people are most concerned about: having their homes or cars broken into. These reductions require effective prevention, detection and punishment of crime. The Home Office will therefore:

provide substantial investment for programmes for crime reduction;
increase police spending plans so that by 2003-04 they are £1.6 billion higher than they are today; and
invest an extra £310 million rising to £540 million each year in prison and community punishments.

Box 10.1: Key PSA targets - Home Office

Reduce the key recorded crime categories of:
- vehicle crime by 30 per cent by 2004;
- domestic burglary by 25 per cent, with no local authority area having a rate more than three times the national average, by 2005; and
- robbery in our principal cities by 14 per cent by 2005.
Increase the number and proportion of recorded crimes for which an offender is brought to justice.
Reduce the rate of re-conviction:
- of offenders punished by imprisonment or by community supervision by 5 per cent by 2004, compared to the predicted rate; and
- of all young offenders by 5 per cent by 2004, compared to the predicted rate.
Make substantial progress by 2004 towards achieving one million more people actively involved in their communities.
Ensure that by 2004, 75 per cent of substantive asylum applications are decided within two months.

Reducing crime

10.4 The Home Office will be investing in crime reduction including through:

action on vehicle crime to deliver the 30 per cent reduction target;
help for local Crime and Disorder Partnerships to develop their infrastructure so that their members can work together better, sharing data and identifying cross-cutting problems and their solutions; and
a Crime Reduction programme of research to identify the most effective new strategies.

10.5 The Government's strategy is covered more fully in Chapter 28 dealing with the outcome of the Crime Reduction cross-departmental review, Chapter 27 on the Criminal Justice System and Chapter 29 on Illegal Drugs. As a result of all these measures the Government expects to achieve significant reductions in burglary, vehicle crime and robbery.

Strengthening the police

10.6 The police are central to reducing crime. The 43 police forces in England and Wales deliver vital services in preventing crime and catching offenders. The increase in police spending agreed in this Review will be £1.6 billion per year by 2003-04, an average annual real terms increase of 3.8 per cent.

10.7 The new resources provided by this Review will modernise:

the prevention of crime by funding information systems to enable the police to analyse crime data and share it with health, education and social services as necessary to reduce crime;
the detection of offenders by new investment in forensic science, IT and secure communication systems to enable officers to spend more time out on patrol and to be more effective while doing so; and
the approach to efficiency, with police forces set individual targets in order to move towards operating at the levels of the best.

A sharper focus on prisons and probation

10.8 Nearly 100,000 people are sent to prison each year, which stops them committing an estimated half a million offences. These gains can be preserved if, while they are in custody, prisoners are made to confront their offending behaviour and develop skills to live law-abiding lives after release. Over 60 per cent of prisoners do not have the literacy skills needed for 96 per cent of jobs. The Government is therefore investing in prison programmes which provide these basic life skills.

10.9 Community punishments on probation have an even bigger part to play. Over 160,000 offenders receive community punishments each year. But far too many of them break these court orders and more than half of them re-offend. Probation programmes will therefore be delivered on 'what works' principles, getting offenders to confront their own behaviour, and equipping them with the skills for successful law-abiding lives.

10.10 As a result the rates of re-convictions of offenders punished by imprisonment or on probation are targeted to fall.

Improving the immigration system

10.11 The Government is determined to prevent abuse of immigration controls while ensuring free movement in and out of the UK for those who have a genuine entitlement. The Government is also committed to honouring its international obligations to refugees, and the spending plans provide more resources to help them settle in the UK. Additional spending of over £400 million each year for the next three years will ensure that substantive asylum claims are decided within two months, while the number of those with unfounded claims who are removed from the UK will rise to at least 30,000 per year.

Strengthening community life

10.12 To promote a healthy, democratic, socially inclusive society, the Government wants to see a step increase in people's involvement in their communities. The Government wants communities to help themselves whether that involves children having difficulties in learning to read, young people being drawn into crime or older people finding it difficult to recover from medical treatment. Volunteers, and particularly mentors, can make the difference between success and failure.

10.13 The Government's Active Community Unit based in the Home Office will make substantial new investment to encourage this kind of community involvement. Chapter 30 sets out in more detail the outcomes of the cross-departmental review on the Active Community.

10.14 The promotion of race equality within the provision of public services is a priority for the Government. Improvements in key areas will be measured through the annual publication of a set of race equality indicators. The first report, Race Equality in Public Services¹ was published in March covering law and order, health, education, economic activity and housing. The Home Office will also ensure that its own workforce and those of the bodies it sponsors - including the police, prison, probation and fire services - are fully representative.

Spending plans

10.15 Home Office spending in will grow by an average of 6.4 per cent a year over the next three years in real terms.

Table 10.1: Key figures

£ million
	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Home Office	8149	9574	10249	10586
Charity Commission	22	22	26	27
of which: Resource Budget	7598	8739	9308	9760
Capital Budget	573	857	967	853