Chapter 16: Northern Ireland Office
Aim
Secure a lasting peace in Northern Ireland, based on the Good Friday Agreement, in which the rights and identities of all traditions in Northern Ireland are fully respected and safeguarded and in which a safe, stable, just, open and tolerant society can thrive and prosper.
Objectives and performance targets
Objective I: support the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland and encourage further political development through positive and constructive relations with the Assembly and Executive and the Irish Government and effective contributions to the British-Irish Council and British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference.
Objective II: build and sustain confidence in the effectiveness and efficiency of the police service and police oversight and accountability arrangements in Northern Ireland.
1. Increase confidence in the police throughout all parts of the community in Northern Ireland, based on a suite of measures of public views on contact with the police and the fairness and effectiveness of policing and policing arrangements. Results will be published annually.
2. A progressive increase in the Catholic representation in the police service towards a target of 30% Catholic representation by 2011 as proposed by Patten with an interim target of 13.5% by March 2004, and a challenging new target for March 2006 to be published in autumn 2002.
Objective III: promote and build confidence in a criminal justice system in Northern Ireland that is efficient, effective and responsive through implementing the published plan of agreed changes deriving from the accepted recommendations of the review of the criminal justice system established under the Good Friday Agreement.
Objective IV: uphold and maintain the rule of law by developing and maintaining a policy, legislative and strategic framework, that takes account of the need to secure justice and the rights of the individual, that provides for a sufficient counter-terrorist capability and seeks to minimise the potential for and causes and effects of public order disturbances and community strife.
Objective V: lessen the impact of crime by working in partnership with other criminal justice agencies to maintain and develop policies aimed at preventing or reducing the threat of crime, the fear of crime and the incidence of crime and to provide support for the victims of crime.
Objective VI: execute the supervisory and custodial sentences of the courts so as to punish offenders appropriately, protect the people of Northern Ireland and help reduce the risk of re-offending.
3. Increase confidence in the criminal justice system throughout all parts of the community in Northern Ireland, based on a suite of measures of public views on the fairness, effectiveness and accessibility of the criminal justice system. Results will be published annually. In support of this target, the Northern Ireland Office, working in conjunction with other agencies, will, by April 2007 reduce:
- domestic burglary by 15%;
- vehicle theft by 10%; and
- theft from vehicles by 10%.
- an interim target for April 2005 to be published in autumn 2002. In addition, the Northern Ireland Office, working in conjunction with other agencies, will reduce the rate of re-conviction, to be measured annually by a system and against baselines and challenging targets to be published by December 2002.
Value for Money
4. Ensure that the annual cost per prisoner place in Northern Ireland does not exceed annual limits for each of the three financial years of the 2002 Spending Review period, namely, 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005-06. The annual limits will be published in autumn 2002.
Who is responsible for delivery?
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is responsible for the delivery of the targets set out in this PSA. They will be realised through the work of the Northern Ireland Office and the various statutory and non-statutory bodies funded by the Department.