CJS (Criminal Justice System) Performance
PSA Targets
PSA targets were set for the CJS in the Spending Review 2004 (SR 2004) for 2005-08. The targets PSA 1 and PSA 2 are the responsibility of the Home Office, MoJ and the CPS.
Efficiency Savings
SR 2004 also required the CPS to deliver £34 million efficiency savings by March 2008. The CPS had no workforce reduction target in SR 2004, but has set a target of relocating 20 posts away from London and the South East by 31 March 2008. Both the efficiency savings and work force reduction targets were exceeded.
SR 2004 Progress on Delivery PSA Target 1:
Improve the delivery of justice by increasing the number of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice to 1.25 million by 2007-08.
An offence is said to have been brought to justice when a recorded crime results in an offender being convicted; cautioned; issued with a penalty notice for disorder; given a formal warning for the possession of cannabis or having an offence taken into consideration.
Performance Measure
Increase the number of offences for which an offender is brought to justice to 1.25 million by 2007/ 2008.
Latest Outturn
Ahead.
Latest performance on offenders brought to justice is 1.449 million offences were brought to justice in the year ending December 2007. This is 44.6% increase since the year to March 2002. (The England and Wales figure includes estimates for missing data. Data are provisional and subject to change.)
SR 2004 Progress on Delivery PSA Target 2:
Reassure the public, reducing the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour, and building confidence in the CJS without compromising fairness.
Public confidence in the CJS and the satisfaction of victims and witnesses is assessed using the British Crime Survey (BCS) and the Citizenship Survey (formerly the Home Office Citizenship Survey(HOCS)). (note: HOCS is now The Citizenship Survey following the transfer of Communities Group from the Home Office to the Department of Communities and Local Government. The Citizenship Survey has moved to quarterly reporting). The target will have been achieved if, for the year 2007/08, two out of the three elements of the following are met.
Responsibility for the three assurance elements of the target lies with the Home Office. The three confidence elements, reported on below, are shared between the Home Office, MoJ and the CPS.
Performance Measures
Improve the level of public confidence in the CJS.
This is determined using questions in the BCS which ask whether the public believes the CJS is effective in bringing people who commit crimes to justice.
Latest Outturn
Ahead
- Baseline (BCS 2003): 39%
- Target (BCS 2007-08): An increase
- Latest Outturn (Year to December 2007): 44%
Performance Measures
Reduce the number of people in black and ethnic minority communities who believe the CJS would treat them worse than people of other races.
This is determined using questions in the Citizenship Survey which ask whether people from a black or minority ethnic background believe the CJS would treat them worse than people of other races.
Latest Outturn
On Course
- Baseline (HOCS 2001): 33%
- Target (The Citizenship Survey 2007): A reduction
- Latest Outturn (The Citizenship Survey April – December 2007): 27%
Performance Measures
Increase satisfaction of victims and witnesses.
This is measured using BCS questions on victim and witness satisfaction with the CJS.
Latest Outturn
On Course
- Baseline (BCS six months to March 2004): 58%
- Target (BCS 2007-08): An increase
- Annual Outturn (BCS 2005-06): 59%
- Latest Outturn (Year to December 2007): 60%
Delivering Efficiencies
Introduction
The 2004 Spending Review set efficiency targets for the CPS to deliver savings of £20.1 million in 2005/06, £26.6 million in 2006/07 and £34.1 million in 2007/08. The targets cover the implementation of the charging programme, improvements in productive time, rationalising administrative support functions and improving procurement practices.
The table below shows the efficiency targets per year (in £millions), along with the discrete year savings made to date for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Workstream |
2005-06 CPS Plan £m |
2005-06 Actual £m |
2006-07 CPS Plan £m |
2006-07 Actual £mm |
2007-08 SR 2004 Target £m |
2007-08 Actual* £m |
Cashable £m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charging Programme |
15.0 |
19.2 |
17.5 |
22.8 |
20.0 |
27.1 |
10.0 |
Productive Time |
3.8 |
33.8 |
6.1 |
50.2 |
8.1 |
62.2 |
13.4 |
Procurement |
0.5 |
2.5 |
1.0 |
4.3 |
2.5 |
5.5 |
5.5 |
Corporate Services |
0.8 |
1.1 |
2.0 |
2.9 |
3.5 |
4.2 |
4.2 |
Total |
20.1 |
56.6 |
26.6 |
80.2 |
34.1 |
99.0 |
33.1 |
* Provisional Total as at March 2008.
Provisional reporting (Figures wiill be finalised and restated later in 2008) at the end of the fourth quarter 2007/08 shows that the CPS has achieved overall cumulative efficiency savings of £99.0m, including cashable savings of £33.1m delivered against the SR 2004 target of £21.4m.
The targets have been delivered through planned efficiencies, broadly covering:
- The implementation of the Charging programme, designed to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of the criminal justice process. Success is measured by the improvement in the guilty plea rate, reductions in discontinuance and reductions in the proportion of cases that do not result in a conviction;
- Improvements in productive time, measured through a survey of users of the Compass Management Information System and in the deployment of higher court advocates (HCAs) and associate prosecutors;
- Savings through HQ rationalisation, relocation and corporate services reorganisation, where service levels and process quality have been measured and benchmarked and serve as quality performance measures. These are measured through the number of staff redeployed, overhead cost comparison, and transaction processing costs; and
- Improving procurement practices, which focuses on reducing the costs of goods and services whilst ensuring quality is maintained. Where alternative items or services are acquired, a standard specification is developed and delivered.
The productive time work-stream accounted for 63% of planned savings by 2007/08 with another 27% coming from charging programme efficiencies and the remainder through improved efficiency in the provision of corporate services and savings delivered through more effective procurement practices. Cashable savings were re-invested in charging, COMPASS and the Case Management System, and meeting new workload pressures on frontline staff.
Actions taken to deliver efficiencies
- All 42 CPS Areas and CPS Direct are now operating under the new statutory Charging arrangements which were introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
- The structural reorganisation of Service Centres has been completed.
- All Areas have been set challenging targets for the increased deployment of HCAs and associate prosecutors which has led to significant savings in external counsel fees in the Crown Court and CPS staff costs in the magistrates’ courts.
- Procurement initiatives including continuous review and re-negotiation of supplier contracts are being rolled out and are successfully delivering above target.
- There was not a target for workforce reductions in the CPS efficiency plan under SR 2004. The CPS had a target of relocating 20 posts out of London and the South East by 2008 against which 43 posts were relocated.
- Work has commenced on implementing the action plan following publication of the Department’s Capability Review.
Plans for delivering efficiencies under CSR 2007
The SR 2004 Efficiency Plan is superseded by the CSR 2007 Efficiency Delivery Plan. The agreed target for this plan is to achieve £69m cashable savings over three years, from both Area operations and corporate services.
