Consider these words: ‘We have found an urgent need for the different parts of the criminal justice system to work together. At its simplest, each part of the system has little regard for the consequences of its actions on the other parts. This means that resources are not always used effectively. Further, few of the players are focused on the overall aim of crime reduction.’
Not Home Secretary Theresa May unveiling her sweeping overhaul of policing yesterday but those of Lord Carter, in the introduction to his review of correctional services in England and Wales in 2003.
And yet while much has changed since 2003, the ‘urgent need for the different parts of the criminal justice system to work together’ still remains. However, true and lasting reform of criminal justice services can only occur if the system is viewed as a whole, and that means there must be stronger end-to-end accountability to reduce crime and re-offending.
May’s statement yesterday included plans to strip a host of powers from the Association of Chief Police Officers, create a new National Crime Agency by 2013, strengthen Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s role in respect of police outcomes and value for money, and introduce directly-elected ‘police and crime commissioners’ within two years.
Alongside its plans to let parents, charities and companies run schools, and the wholesale transfer of commissioning of NHS care to GPs, the Home Secretary’s announcement is another example of the coalition government’s desire to devolve power away from Whitehall. It is certainly radical in its intent, and almost breathless in execution.
The White Paper’s statement that policing ‘cannot be effective if it is working in isolation’, suggests that the need to focus on a system-wide approach to reform has been accepted by the new occupants of Marsham Street. It also builds on the appointment of Nick Herbert with dual ministerial responsibility for policing and criminal justice, with one foot in the Home Office and the other in the Ministry of Justice.
The new government says its plan will deliver more joined-up thinking nationally, along with more efficiency and accountability locally. Certainly, the position of elected police and crime commissioners – who will be able to set budgets and fire chief constables – may prove controversial to some. But, they also offer the potential to make policing and crime prevention more accountable, more responsive to local needs and provide better value for money.
Not only do they offer an important way for the police to reconnect with their communities, but they will also help to ensure that local policing priorities are aligned to those communities, and so achieve a much closer match of resource types to policing needs. Theirs will be the crucial end-to-end responsibility to cut crime and reoffending, as well as having the budgetary power to invest in wherever will deliver the best return.
The elections for the new police and crime commissioners will take place in May 2012 and ministers must use the next 18-months wisely. While allaying any concern that the commissioners will lead to a politicisation of policing, they must also set in place a recruitment process that will attract the strongest calibre of candidate for what will be an important and demanding responsibility.
The reforms announced yesterday are just the beginning of the process. The public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny that will follow will allow the government to set out its thinking in greater detail. For the reforms to be fully effective, it will be necessary to resolve the so-far failed efforts to connect decision-makers on police and crime at a local level with those responsible for offender management and the courts. Otherwise, we will continue to have sentencing decisions being taken completely unconnected to finding the most cost-effective solutions.
But by keeping its focus on system-wide reform, the opportunity is there to enable a step-change in performance; one that will result in a sustainable impact on crime with fewer offenders entering the system for the first time and increased numbers of repeat offenders leaving the system for good. The financial benefits are clear – in March the NAO found that reoffending by short-term prisoners alone costs the taxpayer £10bn a year.
Dr Craig Baker is a partner with Ernst & Young's Government Services practice
