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A Radical Shift in Policy
When the Home Secretary addressed the Association of Chief Police Officers - APA conference (29 June) she was very clear that the finance for policing was no longer ring-fenced. The former government's commitments to a growth in police budgets, linked to the policing pledge and the support for the Single Confidence Target, was a thing of the past (no opposition from the police on those two). So when the 25% plus budget reduction axe falls on the Home Office there will not be any get-out clause for policing budgets but without a link to the policing pledge and confidence targets who will actually decide where the local axe falls? Hugh Orde - President of ACPO
Sir Hugh Orde, ACPO's current supremo, responded mildly to Teresa May's statement. Yes to efficiencies, yes to a recognition that the fat years are now to be followed by the lean years and yes to a reduction in police numbers. But of course these things would be decided by the local Chief Constable. He must know though that to immediately tear up the policing pledge, when the government are proposing to put in place directly elected commissioners of police, is not simply to get rid of a nuisance piece of paper; like shooting a sitting duck!
Policy NewsKeeping Up with the changesMuch of what appears on the website is standard good practice for tackling and reducing crime and anti social behaviour. To an extent this is information which is slowly developed and consequently slow to change. Within the site are also pages on what can now best be described as 'former government policy'. Such things as the targets for reducing crime, the policing pledge etc. These are now up for the chop (non professional description!). Our aim will be to keep the site as up to the moment as possible and to ensure that the headline policy changes are reflected in this site and written up in the new Crime & Policing Policy page. |
Undoubtedly a lot of senior police officers saw the Policing Pledge as a hindrance; even though it was a mild version of the service standards that local authorities had in place for a number of years. The pledge was intended to enable communities and individuals what they were getting for their money and to provide them with the framework of information upon which they could monitor the delivery of services by their local police.
A word or two in the right ear has led to the demise of a very worthwhile public pledge but Sir Hugh you have paid a very high price. The truth of it was that if the police did not want the pledge it would be as plain to the Coalition that it would be a worthwhile sacrifice to gain the bigger prize of the political strategic management of the police by offering up a policy commitment of the former government - however useful it might have been.
Coalition 10 - Police 0
...and now for something completely different
What do you do if you are the Daily Mail and you are confronted by a senior government minister who is proposing to reduce prison numbers? Well course it is a no brainer - you invite a member of the opposition party to write an article extolling the virtues of prison. How strange it is though to see a former Labour Home Secretary and Minister of Justice praising the use of the 'bang them up' policies and to hear the Conservative Minister of Justice arguing in favour of a policy of decarceration.
- Ken Clarke mentioned the former Conservative Home Secretary Douglas Hurd as being one of his heroes and Hurd was the most reforming and progressive of Home Secretaries in memory. The issue is that former Conservative governments may have been penal policy progressives but they found a way of shielding that behind tough rhetoric or a couple of flagship 'tough on crime' policies.
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Ken Clarke - Minister of Justice |
This time things are different. As Clarke pointed out in his Today interview with John Humphries, what on earth can you say when you come back into government to find that you have a prison population which is almost twice as many as when you were last in government. Well you cannot say 'keep 'em coming' when you know that your prison budget is about to be decimated and that the cynical use of the 'tough on crime' maxim by the former government had no impact whatsoever on the rate repeat offending amongst those released from prison.
See: The Government Vision for Criminal Justice Reform
Recent Publications
Experimental statistics on victimisation of children aged 10 to 15: Findings from the British
Crime Survey for the year ending December 2009
One of the key criticisms of the British Crime Survey has been that the this comprehensive review of crime experiences in England and Wales only considered adult victimisation. This report makes available for the first time estimates of victimisation from the extension of
the British Crime Survey (BCS) to children aged 10 to 15 years resident in households in
England and Wales.
Commissioning health and social care for offenders
The latest report is an overview of findings from questionnaire surveys, which we carried out with the lead PCT for each prison that HMIP inspected in 2008-09. It includes recommendations for PCTs, and highlights arrangements for continuity of care when prisoners are released or transferred as an area that was getting worse rather than better in our sample of PCTs.
Tackling Anti Social Behaviour
A new leaflet (February 2010) issued as part of the new government anti social behaviour campaign explaining where to go for help to tackle anti-social behaviour and how to help solve anti-social behaviour problems in neighbourhoods.
Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Action Plan: Annual Report
This is a link to the Ministry of Justice report outlining progress on work with voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises to reduce reoffending.
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