Public Service Agreements (Hansard, 19 September 2002)

§ Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 10 July 2002]: The comprehensive spending review undertaken in 1997–98 produced 31 targets for the Home Office over the period April 1998—March 2001. Out of these 31 targets 19 have been achieved (61.30 per cent.), six have been transferred to other Government departments as a result of machinery of Government changes (19.35 per cent.) and six have been rolled forward (19.35 per cent.).

Out of the 19 that have been achieved, many have been incorporated into Public Service Agreement, Spending Review (PSAs) or Service Delivery Agreement (SDAs) through the SR2000 process. Out of the six that were rolled forward, five did not have completion dates within the timescale of 1998–2001 and have been extended into PSAs or SDAs in the SR2000 process, with more clearly defined dates and targets.

The Home Office Annual Report was laid before Parliament in July and outlines in more detail performance against targets. The attached tables outline which targets have been met and which have been rolled forward.

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Table 1: 1998–2000 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) Targets and their Amendments
1998 CSR PSA* Target	Ameded SR2000 PSA* Target (See also Table2)
14. Ensure the two-year reconviction rate for those receiving community sentences remains below the rate predicted for those offenders.	9. Reduce the rate of reconviction:
	—Of all offenders punished by imprisonment or community supervision by five per cent. by 2004 compared to the predicted rate; and
15. Reduce the reconviction rate for persistent young offenders.	—Of all young offenders by five per cent. by 2004 compared to the predicted rate. Achieved.
16. Improve supervision programmes run by the probation service and prison regimes that require offenders to face up to their offending behaviour, and introduce a system of independent accreditation covering probation as well as prison programmes	Achieved. Forms supporting SDAs to reconvictions target (no. 9)
17. Double the number of completions of accredited offender behaviour programmes (OBP) from 3,000 to 6,000 a year by 2001–02, including an increase from 680 to 1100 in those completing sex offender programmes (SOTP)	Achieved—target rolled forward. (SOTP target not achieved). This has become a Service Delivery Agreement under target 9.
18. Reduce the proportion of discharged prisoners who are at Level I or below for literacy and numeracy skills by 15 per cent. by April 2002	Achieved—this has become part of the Service Delivery Agreement and reworded to read: Increase the educational and vocational qualifications of offenders with:
	—23,400 accredited educational/vocational qualifications in 2001–02 and 36,200 in 2003–04 including an increase in the number of level 2 basic and key skills awards from 18,000 to 21,000 in the Prison Service; and —12,000 completions of level 2 basic skills awards in 2003–04 with 6,000 completions in 2002–03 in the Probation Service.
19. Reduce the rate of positive random drug tests from a 20 per cent. target in 1998–99 to 16 per cent. in 2001–02; and to provide access to voluntary drug testing for all prisoners by April 2002	Achieved. Further extended as SDA to reduce to 10 per cent. by 2004.
20. Pilot Drug Treatment and Testing Orders; provide treatment for problem drug users in prison which is then followed through under post-release supervision; increase number of offenders entering treatment programmes as a result of arrest referral schemes and post-release supervision	Achieved. Roll-out of orders, arrest referral etc. has become a Service Delivery Agreement.
21. Maintain existing performance of no escapes by high risk prisoners; and the overall rate of escapes from prisons to be no higher than 0.17 per cent. of average prison population.	Achieved — target rolled forward into new PSA. 10. Maintain the current low rates of prisoner escapes including no category A escapes.
Promote race equality and develop new indicators to measure improvement.	Achieved—target rolled forward into new PSA and indicators developed.
	16. Promote race equality, particularly in the provision of public services such as education, health, law and order, housing and local government, and measure progress by the annual publication of Race Equality in Public Services, a set of race equality performance indicators across the public sector; and achieve representative workforces in the Home Office and its police, probation and prison services.
23. Set targets by June 1999 to increase the number of people from ethnic minorities in Home Office and its services	Achieved " now incorporated into PSA 16. See target 16 in Table 2.
24. Increase the quantity and quality of people's involvement in their community and ensure fulfilment of the vision of the Giving Age.	15. Make substantial progress by 2004 towards one million more people being actively involved in their communities.
25. Incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law	Achieved. Transferred to Lord Chancellor's Department July 2001
26. Improve the level of public confidence in the democratic process, through the introduction of PR for European elections; by legislating for the registration of political parties; by introducing a new system of controls on political party funding; and by carrying out a review of electoral procedures and making recommendations during 1999	Transferred to Lord Chancellor's Department July 2001
27. Introduce legislation providing for freedom of information	Achieved. Transferred to Lord Chancellor's Department July 2001
28. Reduce the time taken to final decision of asylum applications to six months by April 2001.	13. Ensure that by 2004, 75 per cent. of substantive asylum applications decided within 2 months.
29. Reduce fire related deaths in the home by 20 per cent. by 31 March 2003, from an average starting point of 380 a year	Transferred to Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions July 2001
30. Reduce the number of tires by 31 March 2002 to a level lower than that currently projected on long-term trends (projected levels: 608,100 pa–633,500 pa)	Transferred to Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions July 2001
31. Improve fire service efficiency by two per cent. a year	Transferred to Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions July 2001
*Public Service Agreement

Table 2: PSA Target for 2001–04 with cross-reference to Table 1
PSA Target	Amended from 1998 target number:	Present Status
	1	Ongoing
1. 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.
2. Ensure by 2004 that the levels of fear of crime in the key categories of violent crime, burglary and car crime, reported in the British Crime Survey (BCS), are lower than the levels reported in the 2001 BCS.	6	Ongoing
3. Reduce by 2004 the economic cost of crime, as measured by an indicator to be developed by March 2001.	New	Ongoing
4. Disrupt 10 per cent. more organised criminal enterprises by 2004.	13	Ongoing
Improve the level of public confidence in the CJS by 2004, including improving that of ethnic minority communities.	New	Ongoing

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Table 2: PSA Target for 2001–04 with cross-reference to Table 1
PSA Target	Amended from 1998 target number:	Present Status
6. Increase the number and proportion of recorded crimes for which an offender is brought to justice.	New	Ongoing
7. Improve by 5 percentage points the satisfaction of victims and witnesses with their treatment by the CIS by 2002 and thereafter at least maintain that level of performance.	9	Ongoing
8. Reduce by 2004, the time from arrest to sentence of other outcome by:	7.8	Ongoing
—Reducing the time from charge to disposal for all defendants, with a target to be specified by 31 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.
9. Reduce the rate of reconviction:	14,15,16,17,18	Ongoing
—of all offenders punished by imprisonment or 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 the predicted rate.
10. Maintain the current low rates of prisoner escapes including no Category A escapes.	21	Ongoing
11. Reduce the proportion of people under the age of 25 reporting the use of Class A drugs by 25 per cent. by 2005 (and by 50 per cent. by 2008).	New	Ongoing
12. Reduce the levels of repeat offending amongst drug-misusing offenders by 25 per cent. by 2005 (and by 50 per cent. by 2008).	19,20	Ongoing
13. Ensure that by 2004, 75 per cent. of substantive asylum applications are decided within two months.	28	Ongoing
14. Enforce the immigration laws more effectively by removing a greater proportion of failed asylum seekers.	New	Ongoing
Make substantial progress by 2004 towards one million more people being actively involved in their communities.	24	Ongoing
16. Promote race equality, particularly in the provision of public services such as education, health, law and order. housing and local govemment, and measure progress by the annual publication of Race Equality in Public Services, a set of race equality performance indicators across the public sector; and achieve representative workforces in the Home Office and its police, probation and prison services.	22	Ongoing
Ensure annual efficiency gains by police forces are worth in total at least two per cent. of overall police spending in that year.	2	Ongoing