Chapter 27

Cross-Departmental Review of the Criminal Justice System

Scope

This year's cross-departmental review of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) built on the work begun in 1998 to integrate the operation of the system and set objectives designed to improve the overall performance. The cross-departmental review took stock of what has been achieved and what more needs to be done to ensure that the CJS departments tackle crime and deliver justice effectively.

Background

27.1 Policy responsibility for the agencies and services which form the Criminal Justice System is shared by three Ministers: the Home Secretary, the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney General. In the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), the Government undertook the first ever review of the performance and management of the CJS as a whole. The CSR improved the performance of the CJS by setting clear objectives and targets for the system and initiated new arrangements for joint strategic planning and performance management across the system.

27.2 The Government is pledged to halve the time taken to deal with persistent young offenders from 142 days to 71 days by 2002. As a result of more effective inter-agency working in the CJS, the average time taken had fallen to 96 days by the first quarter of this year. Over the next three years the Government will achieve its target of 71 days and will then maintain that level thereafter.

27.3 Effective local partnerships among the criminal justice agencies are also being forged through 42 Area Criminal Justice Strategy Committees working with other local groups such as Trial Issues Groups and Crime and Disorder Partnerships. Together, these will transform performance at the local level. Progress is already being made in bearing down on vehicle crime, domestic burglary and robbery.

Outcomes

27.4 This year's cross-departmental review concluded that further measures were required to boost the CJS departments' contribution to reducing crime, delivering justice and securing public confidence in the system. For the first time, the CJS departments looked at resource needs of the system as a whole, and the interconnections between the three CJS programmes, to establish where funds could best be allocated.

27.5 To this end, the Review provides extra funding to tackle crime and improve performance. This extra investment will be linked to the achievement of designated targets in the CJS Public Service Agreement. Key targets for the CJS over the next three years are set out in Box 27.1.

Box 27.1: Key PSA targets - Criminal Justice System (CJS)

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.

Reduce by 2004 the time from arrest to sentence or other disposal by:
- reducing the time from charge to disposal for all defendants, with a target to be specified by March 2001;
- dealing with 80 per cent of youth court cases within their time targets; and
- halving from 142 to 71 days by 2002 the time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders and maintaining that level thereafter.
Improve by 5 percentage points the satisfaction level of victims and witnesses with their treatment in the CJS by 2002 and thereafter at least maintain that level of performance.
Increase the number and proportion of recorded crimes for which an offender is brought to justice.

27.6 To deliver these and other targets, the CJS departments will take the following steps:

an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) strategy for the CJS as a whole will be implemented. This will streamline case management, reduce bureaucracy and contribute to reductions in the time taken to deal with cases. More funding will be underpinned by the appointment of a high-level programme director to lead ICT for the CJS; by a thorough review of the current ICT programme; and by a comprehensive study of the longer-term strategic ICT requirements for the CJS;
building on the recommendations of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, there will be extra provision for victims and witnesses, supported by a strengthened and integrated strategy for improving services for victims and witnesses across the CJS;
flexible funding will be piloted at local level to facilitate more effective joint working. These will incorporate pilots to test the benefits of shared facilities and co-location; and pilots to test new joint arrangements for victims and witnesses.

27.7 To promote further joint working between the three CJS departments, there will be a joint unallocated reserve which the three CJS Ministers will manage collectively. This reserve will give the CJS ministers the flexibility to allocate funds to those parts of the system where returns will be the greatest and to respond effectively to new pressures on the system as they arise over the next three years.

27.8 The initiatives instigated by the cross-departmental review will continue the process of bringing together the various elements of the CJS; will improve upon the advances that have been made in tackling crime and dispensing justice fairly; and will ensure the best return on the money invested in the CJS.

Spending plans

27.9 Spending plans for the CJS over the next three years are summarised in Table 27.1. Details of CJS spending within each of the three departments are set out in the relevant departmental chapters.

Table 27.1: Key figures

£ million
	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Total Criminal Justice System	12,545	13,969	14,840	15,263
Of which joint unallocated reserve	-	100	200	225