§ Mr. Raymond Fletcherasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will prepare and present an annual Law and Order Budget in which progress in the prevention and punishment of crime can be measured against the costs incurred and an assessment of future costs given.
§ Mr. Elystan MorganI doubt if a budget of precisely this nature would be practicable. But an important start has been made on one aspect through the introduction by certain police forces, with my right hon. Friend's encouragement, of a system of programme-budgeting designed to reveal the true costs of the various forms of police activity. To complement this, work is in hand to evolve performance indicators against which it is hoped that the effectiveness of different activities may be judged. Great importance is attached to this work, which is still in the development stage.