HC Deb 10 December 2002 vol 396 cc239-40W
Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the targets he has set which apply to the police service. [83675]

Mr. Denham

The National Policing Plan, which was presented to Parliament on 29 November 2002 in accordance with Section 1 of the Police Reform Act 2002, sets out, for the first time in one document, the strategic national priorities for the police service over the next three years and the indicators against which the performance of the service will be judged.

The police service is asked, through police authorities and police forces, to contribute to the Home Department achieving its Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets. These have been detailed in Section 10 and Annex A of the National Policing Plan. A summary of actions that Chief Officers and police authorities should take into account is at Annex B of the same document. The number of Best Value Performance Indicators, which was 32 in 2001–02, has dropped to 19 in 2002–03 and will remain 19 for 2003–04.

All forces and authorities are subject to audit and inspection, and each is required to demonstrate a continuous drive for efficiency by meeting an annual target of savings/efficiency gains equivalent to 2 per cent.; of their annual budget.