§ Mrs. BrookeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many targets he has set for each local criminal justice board in 2003–04. [133485]
§ Paul GogginsFor the year 2003–04 and in the context of the Criminal Justice System Public Service Agreement, each local criminal justice board has been set the following targets
A nationally set target to increase by five per cent. the number of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice—this is also known as the 'narrowing the justice gap' target.The 'Narrowing the Justice Gap' target includes two further locally set sub-targets:To increase the number (within a range of five-15 per cent.) of offences brought to justice committed by the core group of persistent offenders.To reduce the proportion of ineffective trials with locally set targets contributing to a required national level of improvement of 27 per cent. in both Crown court and magistrates courts over the three-year course of the target.A nationally set target to improve the level of public confidence in the criminal justice system—where a national six per cent point improvement is sought over the three-year course of the target.Outside of the Criminal Justice System Public Service Agreement, local boards have also been set the following targets for the year 2003–04:
A nationally set target to ensure that the average time from arrest to sentence for Persistent young offenders is halved from 142 days to 71 days or lower in all criminal justice areas.A number of locally set targets across the time cases take, covering both youths and adults cases from charge to completion in the magistrates courts, and separately the time 746W taken to handle a case in the Crown court (`timeliness' targets)—with the proviso that any area currently performing the national average must set an improvement target.