Home Office Publishes Progress Report

Big reductions in vehicle crime, burglary, robbery and the fear of crime, improvements in police performance and a dramatic drop in the rate of asylum applications are some of the achievements outlined in the Autumn Performance Report (APR) published by the Home Office today.

The APR is a stock-take of the Home Office’s performance against its 10 Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said:

"We are making good progress in ensuring security and safety for the individual and the community.

"Crime has fallen by thirty per cent since 1997 – a testament to the hard work of the police and other agencies fighting crime - and abuses of the asylum and immigration system have been cut. But fear of crime and insecurity remain too high, even though things are moving in the right direction.

"This is why we’re taking further action at every level to promote security and stability. We’re creating a Serious Organised Crime Agency to go after the big criminal gangs and, at the local level, we’re supporting police in their fight against yobbish behaviour. We’re also tackling the causes of crime by expanding our innovative Drug Interventions Programme and by offering help to families of children who are caught up in anti-social behaviour.

"One of the marks of a society regaining confidence in itself is that people are prepared to help others. I am therefore especially pleased that 1.6 million more people are helping to build stronger communities through volunteering. The impact this can have on crime levels and people’s quality of life is forgotten all too easily.

"But I know that there are always areas where more progress is needed. For example the recruitment of police officers from ethnic minorities is at record levels, but we still have a challenge to ensure all forces are representative of the communities they serve.

"We’re committed to making continuing improvements, and being honest with the information we supply - so people can make up their own minds on whether their community is improving."

The Report highlights a number of key achievements:

• Overall crime has fallen by seven per cent since 2001/02.

• Vehicle crime has decreased by 30 per cent since 2000; burglary by 27 per cent over the same period.

• Fear of burglary and vehicle crime has fallen.

• Fear of violent crime has dropped from 22 per cent to 16 per cent since 2001/02.

• Between April and September 2004, more than 6,000 people entered into drug treatment. 154 per cent more people entered treatment in September than in April

• Asylum applications are down by two thirds since their peak in October 2002.

• Overall police performance is up.

• Confidence in the Criminal Justice System is rising – the number of people that believe the CJS is effective in bringing people who commit crimes to justice has risen from 39 per cent to 42 per cent.

The Home Office also has challenging ‘value for money’ targets – needing to make a gain of £1,970 million by the end of 2007/08 following Sir Peter Gershon’s Review.

The Department is on course to achieve its target of £210 million savings in the core Home Office and savings of two per cent per year in the police service by 2005/06.

Recent improvements in value for money include:

• saving 35 per cent on the unit cost of electronic monitoring (‘tagging’) of offenders

• saving 17 per cent (£16 million this year) from the cost of desktop computing in the main Department.

Notes to Editors

1. The Autumn Performance Report 2004 is available on the Home Office website www.homeoffice.gov.uk

© Crown copyright material reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland