Memorandum submitted by the Home Office
ANNUAL REPORT—SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION
At the recent evidence session John Gieve offered
to provide further information on three points raised by the Committee.
These were:
— the unpublished evaluation of CSOs
(referred to in Q8 and Q9);
— void NASS properties (referred to
in Q146); and
— the extent and nature of consultation
on the new PSA targets (referred to in Q26).
Further information on the first two of these
points is attached as annexes A and B respectively. I will send
you details of the PSA consultation in a separate note early next
week.
Dr Paul Chandwani
Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary
12 August 2004
Annex A
EVALUATION OF CSOs
At the meeting of the Home Affairs Committee
(HAC) on 20 July 2004 there was a discussion about the announcement
of the recruitment of 20,000 CSOs by 2008.
At this meeting I referred to evaluations of
CSOs which show they have had a positive impact on the communities
that they serve.
One of the conditions on which forces receive
Home Office funding for CSOs is to ensure that adequate evaluation
arrangements are in place for the project. The Home Office asks
forces to send copies of their assessments of effectiveness of
the scheme on an annual basis.
We have drawn on the experiences of CSOs and
projects managers, as well as individual forces in developing
a methodology for a national evaluation. Key points that we have
drawn from the force evaluations and our assessment based on information
from project managers and CSOs are:
— Anti-Social Behaviour and Crime.
Forces that are measuring the effect of CSOs on ASB and crime
have indicated that the impact is high. In West Yorkshire, for
example, in the 12 months following the introduction of CSOs into
Leeds city centre, vehicle related crime fell by 31% and personal
robbery fell by 47%;
— Re-assurance. Where this has
been measured, CSOs appear to be effective at providing reassurance,
decreasing fear of crime and increasing confidence in the police.
For example the evaluation of CSOs by the MPS indicated that 50-70%
of residents felt more reassured about their safety after the
introduction of CSOs;
— Efficiency. The introduction
of CSOs can give forces greater flexibility in the deployment
of fully sworn police officers. Surrey's modernisation pilot,
for example, has stated that better use of CSOs could improve
ward coverage by 25-30% with minimal increase in costs;
— Visibility. CSOs spend a far
higher amount of their time on front line duties than police officers.
In most forces CSOs spend at least 70% of their time on patrol,
and according to West Yorkshire's recent evaluation CSOs in Leeds
and Bradford spend 82% of their time on patrol;
— Community engagement/diversity.
CSOs have a key role in making links with the community. CSOs
are more diverse than regular officers in terms of gender, ethnic
origin and age. For example, in the MPS more than 30% of CSOs
are from visible ethnic minorities as opposed to 6% of officers.
— Career Pathways. Many CSOs see
their role as a stepping stone to a career as a police officer—44%
of CSOs would like to become police officers.
Some of the evaluations sent to us by individual
forces have been published and these are instructive in demonstrating
the success of CSOs in certain areas. West Yorkshire's evaluation,
carried out by the University of Leeds, is very useful in this
regard.
The national evaluation will focus the effect
of CSOs in three key areas:
— the effect of CSOs on crime
and anti-social behaviour levels;
— the effect of CSOs on public
safety and community confidence; and,
— the cost effectiveness of CSOs.
The report will also include a process evaluation
covering other issues such as the management and supervision of
CSOs, use of powers, and the workforce profile. The evaluation
will look at these latter issues on a national level by collating
existing information and sending out questionnaires to CSOs and
project managers across all forces. However, the research on the
three principal areas will be collected mainly in the three forces,
where detailed work will be carried out over a one-year period.
There will be an interim report by the end of the year and a full
report will be completed in 2005.
Annex B
VOID NASS PROPERTIES
During the hearing on 20 July, the Committee
asked (at questions 144 to 149 and 155 to 156) about the amount
of accommodation under contract to the Home Office for the purposes
of supporting asylum seekers which is currently empty.
Bill Jeffrey mentioned (in answer to question
154) that we were talking about 4,400 wholly empty properties
for dispersal accommodation. This figure was correct at 29 June
2004 and we now estimate that it accounts for some 14,000 bedspaces
(rather than the 18,000 Bill mentioned). We estimate that these
would cost around £4.7 million per month if they remained
empty. Additionally at that date we had a further 10,000 empty
bedspaces in partially occupied properties at an estimated cost
of £3.5 million per month.
We have employed our contractual leverage where
available, including terminating two contracts and the non-extension
of another, and otherwise negotiated voluntary agreements to reduce
the amount of our surplus dispersal accommodation by some 16,000
bedspaces. Successfully implemented, these reductions, together
with discounts agreed on the rate paid for remaining voids, should
save more than £35 million over the remainder of this financial
year, compared with what we would otherwise have had to pay. We
are now working to ensure that we actually realise these savings
and that we minimise the unavoidable impact on asylum seekers
in so doing. We are also examining the best ways to reuse any
remaining surplus accommodation.
Most of our contracts will come to an end during
next financial year and we are currently considering the procurement
arrangements for the next phase of dispersal accommodation. We
are working to ensure that we have much greater flexibility in
these contracts to manage more effectively variations in the number
of asylum applicants that need to be supported.
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