Select Committee on Welsh Affairs Written Evidence

6. Written evidence from Home Office

INQUIRY INTO POLICE AND ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE

Overview

  1.  The Government welcomes the opportunity to set out information with regard to our policing policies, including the National Policing Plan, progress in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and information on the working relationship between the UK Government and the National Assembly for Wales on policing matters. The chance of being a victim of crime in England and Wales is historically low and we are making inroads into people's fear of crime. The resources available for policing, including the resources to tackle anti-social behaviour, are at an unprecedented high—we have nearly 140,000 frontline officers (as at the end of May 2004) and record numbers of police civilian staff. Officer numbers in each of the Welsh forces have reached record levels in the past 18 months. There are also over 3,500 Community Support Officers on our streets (including 122 in Wales as at August 2004) now providing a visible, reassuring presence, particularly in combating anti-social behaviour and this number will rise substantially by 2008.

  2.  We have increased Government police funding by 21% in real terms since March 1997. Forces are experiencing the benefits of technological and scientific advancements such as DNA and the Forensic Integration Strategy and more joined up systems of communication. The complementary work of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Police Standards Unit is also yielding positive results—as is the partnership work being undertaken by the police and others within Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Community Safety Partnerships. Above all, a positive performance culture is really embedding itself within the police service and this is leading to sustained progress in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

  3.  The Government is not complacent about any of this progress. As we signalled in last year's Building Safer Communities consultation paper the Home Office Strategic Plan and the White Paper, Building Communities, Beating Crime, published earlier this month, we will continue to improve the way in which the police service operates to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. We will take forward the police reform programme and build on the firm basis of success that has been achieved to date, through the hard work of the police service, police authorities and their partners from the community and voluntary sector and local and central government. We will ensure that there is greater focus on the law-abiding citizen and that local people have the opportunity to engage directly with their forces to tackle local priority issues.

  4.  A strong focus on performance remains at the heart of the Government's agenda to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. But as we have already made clear, it is also reliant on certain fundamental issues such as the service that the police provide to communities; how policing is structured; how community engagement in policing can be increased and how the police can better reassure local communities. We must see these elements as being very much inter-linked. We must also look at things in the round—from policing at the neighbourhood level and tackling anti-social behaviour, to improving the effectiveness of crime reduction at national and increasingly international level.

  5.  The vision behind the White Paper, Building Communities, Beating Crime, published earlier this month, reflects our wider determination for continued improvements in policing, to help build safer, more secure and stable communities, where law-abiding citizens and families are better protected against crime. The main emphasis of our reforms is to pass power from the political centre of England and Wales to local citizens and communities, to create new democratic systems of accountability and scrutiny and to reinforce the role of elected councillors in local policing.

THE NATIONAL POLICING PLAN

Overview

  6.  The Police Reform Act 2002 amended the Police Act 1996 to require the Government to lay before Parliament by the end of November each year a National Policing Plan (NPP) for the following three years. It was judged that the NPP should set the strategic direction for policing in England and Wales and establish the performance framework, including any indicators and targets against which police performance would be measured and compared to similar forces.

  7.  The first NPP (for 2003-06) was issued in November 2002 and built on the proposals in the December 2001 White Paper. It established a single place where the Government's priorities for policing; initiatives in place or under development for the delivery of those priorities; and the performance indicators for measuring progress against those priorities all came together. The Plan acknowledged the achievements of the police over recent years in England and Wales, especially in crime reduction and the early stages of implementation of the police reform programme. It placed this work in the context of the delivery of Public Service Agreements and rested on the Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF) as the means by which police performance would be measured.

  8.  The second NPP (for 2004-07), published in November 2003, represented an incremental change in Home Office expectations for police planning. It was broadly welcomed by the police service as a coherent and focused Plan that supported their local planning activities. The Plan set a national framework of minimum standards against which policing should be delivered locally. It also signalled the direction of travel for the ongoing police reform agenda. Once again, it set out the Home Secretary's key priorities and reflected the considerable progress that had been made over the previous year as well as relevant changes in the policing environment. It described the significant PPAF developments and how it would be used to account for performance.

  9.  The Home Office intention for the third NPP (for 2005-08) is to make it a strategic and succinct document, which will provide genuine flexibility for the identification of local policing priorities within a national framework. The 2005-08 Plan will be developed alongside a new set of Home Office Public Service Agreements from the Spending Review 2004 and with the contents of the Home Office Strategic Plan firmly in mind. The intention to put the law-abiding citizen at the heart of policing in England and Wales will be central to the Plan's message.

Relationship between National Priorities and Local Decision Making

  10.  The NPP seeks to strike a balance between local and national priorities in England and Wales, by setting a clear framework of national minimum standards and performance assessment, while leaving sufficient flexibility for locally identified priorities to be addressed. An overall national reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour and improved feelings of public safety can be achieved by the police service engaging closely with local communities and partners, to identify priorities and the best means of tackling them. The Policing Performance Assessment Framework then measures how effective and efficient forces have been in tackling both local and national issues.

  11.  Tackling anti-social behaviour is a key priority for the community and for the police and we will continue to work with them and other public services to challenge behaviour that is unacceptable and take action if it continues.

TACKLING ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND REDUCING VOLUME CRIME

What is anti-social behaviour?

  12.  Anti-social behaviour is defined in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 as behaviour that is likely to cause alarm, harassment or distress. This manifests itself in a number of ways—nuisance noise, verbal intimidation, criminal damage or vandalism, abandoned cars, kerb-crawling, street drinking and begging, or groups of people intimidating others.

  13.  An indicator of public perception of anti-social behaviour has been developed using data from the British Crime Survey (BCS). Using this measure, the proportion of people estimated to perceive a high level of anti-social behaviour in their local area fell from 21% to 16% between 2002-03 and 2003-04.

  14.  The BCS indicator brings together perceptions of abandoned and burnt-out cars, noisy neighbours or loud parties, people being drunk and rowdy in public places, people using or dealing drugs, teenagers hanging around on the streets, rubbish or litter lying around, vandalism, graffiti and other deliberate damage to property. Between 2002-03 to 2003-04, as well as the overall fall in perception, all of the seven individual anti-social behaviour measures showed a decline (Dodd, T et al (2004) Home Office statistical bulletin 10/04).

  15.  The BCS shows that people within council estates and low-income areas, multi-ethnic, low-income areas and council estates with greatest hardship perceive high levels of anti-social behaviour. Analysis of the 2002-03 BCS showed that people living in council estates and low-income areas were more likely than people in all other types of areas to perceive teenagers hanging around, rubbish, vandalism and drug use or dealing as very or fairly big problems. For example, 64% of people living in multi-ethnic, low-income areas identified vandalism as a very or fairly big problem. This figure for vandalism was also high amongst people living in council estates with greatest hardship (61%) compared with 35% of the population in England and Wales (Thorpe and Wood 2004).

  16.  There is also variation in different types of area in the type of behaviour that was considered to be the "biggest problem" in their local area. People in affluent urban areas are more likely to perceive rubbish (19%) and vandalism (19%) as the biggest problem, while those in council estates were more likely to mention teenagers hanging around (28%) and drug use or dealing (21%). (Thorpe and Wood, 2004).

  17.  In addition a one-day count of anti-social behaviour was undertaken to obtain a snapshot of reported anti-social behaviour. Over a single 24-hour period in September 2003, 66,000 reports of anti-social behaviour were made to participating organisations (police, fire service and local authorities) in England and Wales (see Annex). This is equivalent to approximately 13.5 million reports per year or one report every two seconds. More than 1,500 organisations took part and information was received from every CDRP and CSP area in England and Wales.

  18.  Anti-social behaviour is also typified by repeated acts perpetrated by an individual or group and also the proximity between "victim" and "perpetrator" (neighbours, for example).

  19.  The cumulative effect of this behaviour has a damaging effect on the welfare and safety of individuals. A recent report by Sheffield Hallam University ("What works for Victims and Witnesses of Anti-Social Behaviour" July 2004) outlined the impact of anti-social behaviour on individuals and showed that fear of reprisals was the largest deterrent to victims reporting incidents and acting as witnesses.

  20.  The vast majority of people behave in a way that does not cause other people to feel intimidated or unsafe. However, anti-social behaviour holds back the regeneration of deprived areas and the safety and progress of the community as a whole.

The Government's response

  21.  Tackling anti-social behaviour is a priority for the Home Office and for many Departments across Government.

  22.  The Government's response to anti-social behaviour can be summed up as a "twin-track" approach—providing help and support to the individuals and communities and using the full range of powers to ensure acceptable standards of behaviour are upheld. The Government rejects the view that tackling anti-social behaviour is a choice between prevention and enforcement; a successful response involves both. Work to tackle anti-social behaviour should be seen in the wider context of investment in health, education and regeneration and in the reform of public services.

  23.  In March 2003, we published the White Paper "Respect and Responsibility—Taking A Stand against Anti-social Behaviour". This outlined the main steps we had taken, including increasing the number of police officers, introducing community support officers, wardens and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, and putting in place Anti-social Behaviour Orders and Fixed Penalty Notices to address anti-social behaviour.

  24.  The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 also gave new powers to the police, local authorities and other agencies, including social services, environmental health officers, schools and businesses.

  25.  In October 2003 the Home Office published "Together: Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour" the Government's Action Plan and launched the Government's TOGETHER campaign to improve performance across England and Wales.

  26.  People working in the field of anti-social behaviour and the general public drive the TOGETHER campaign. When local people have confidence that their concerns are listened to and acted upon they then are more confident and determined to help tackle anti-social behaviour. The campaign supports efforts at a local level to drive up community involvement, ownership and responsibility.

  27.  The Action Plan sets out the priority areas for action for reducing anti-social behaviour over the next two to three years. Key areas include reducing the impact of nuisance neighbours, environmental crime and begging. We are working with 10 Trailblazer areas to develop best practice and take action in these areas. Funding was provided to every Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership and practical help and support was provided to front-line practitioners.

  28.  Taken together—the existing steps we had taken, the new legislation and the rollout of the TOGETHER campaign are working to ensure the anti-social behaviour of a minority is tackled, not tolerated.

  29.  Other Government Departments are also playing a key role in reducing anti-social behaviour. For example, the "Cleaner Safer Greener" communities agenda, launched by ODPM in July 2003, brings together a range of Government activities aimed at improving the quality of life for everyone by making our streets, parks and public spaces better. "Cleaner Safer Greener" programmes are addressing key issues, including creating attractive and welcoming parks, play areas and public spaces, improving the physical fabric and infrastructure of places and engaging and empowering local people and communities.

National Standard for Incident Recording

  30.  The National Standard for Incident Recording (NSIR) is being developed to bring about consistent process and practice in relation to the recording of non-crime and non-notifiable crime incidents within the police forces of England and Wales. The lack of a consistent approach in the past has resulted in the data at a force level being of limited value and worthless at national level. The three themes of the NSIR are Road Related, ASB and Public Safety. The ASB area is seen as fundamental to future effective control and reduction of such behaviour.

  31.  The project has moved from a feasibility study, to Standard design, to pilot and then independent pilot review. The current thinking is that the next stage of Standard development should be the introduction of a "baseline year". This will, subject to ministerial and stakeholder approval, involve all forces formally adopting the Standard during 2005.

  32.  A key element of the approach is that during the baseline year, statistical analysis and other reviews should be carried out. This will facilitate and support informed decision making in relation to what the data should or could be used for and identification of which factors might influence such issues.

  33.  The current pilot involves 11 forces, including Dyfed Powys. A further seven forces have also progressed to the "adoption" phase, whilst the majority of remaining forces have made their intention clear to participate in the baseline year (commencing early 2005).

  34.  There is complete support amongst forces for the introduction of the Standard, including strong support from amongst the four Welsh forces. However, there are still some significant concerns, most notably, the potential cost of the programme, the effect on recorded crime and the eventual use of the data. Evidence has shown that the first two concerns are unfounded. The third concern will be addressed via the baseline year work, as mentioned at paragraph 31.

What is Volume Crime?

  35.  Volume crimes are the three types of crime specifically measured in the current Home Office PSA 1 (vehicle crime, domestic burglary and robbery). PSA 1 set an overall target to reduce vehicle crime by 30% from 1998-99-2004; domestic burglary by 25% from 1998-99-2005; and robbery in the 10 Street Crime Initiative areas by 14% from 1999-2000-05; and to maintain that level.

How is the Government tackling Volume Crime?

  36.  According to Home Office research, 100,000 offenders (10% of all offenders on the Offenders Index) in England and Wales, are responsible for over half of all crimes, with their actions also having an enormous effect on fear of crime and feelings of community safety. Tackling a small number of offenders, and particularly the most prolific offenders, will therefore have a disproportionate effect on cutting crime.

  37.  The Government's approach to tackling crime and the causes of crime is based on the management of offenders, with the explicit aim of crime prevention. There is an important focus on locally identified priority offenders, who cause the greatest harm to communities throughout England and Wales. The Police work closely alongside and share information with the Probation service to manage prolific priority offenders and there are various schemes in place to identify this type of offender and turn them away from crime.

  38.  The most recent British Crime Survey (published early November 2004) showed that the overall level of vehicle crime has fallen by 12% for the year ending June 2004 and the levels of domestic burglary are down 2% compared to the previous year. The levels of worry about car crime and domestic burglary have also fallen in the year to June 2004, compared with the previous 12 months.

  39.  Recorded crime figures show an overall fall of 23% in domestic burglary between April-June 2004, across England and Wales and compared to the same period the previous year. Recorded robbery has fallen 15% in the latest quarter compared with the previous year and vehicle thefts dropped by 18% from April-June 2004 compared with the same quarter last year.

  40.  The performance of the four Welsh forces against PSA target One is mixed. Performance data across the target crimes for Dyfed-Powys shows increases in the financial year 2003-04 in all three volume crime types. Gwent shows an increase in two of the crime types (domestic burglary and vehicle crime), with a decrease in robbery. North Wales and South Wales police forces meanwhile both show significant reductions in all three volume crime types (a breakdown of the volume crime data is listed later on in this document.)

TACKLING SERIOUS AND ORGANISED CRIME

  41.  Organised crime reaches into every community, ruining lives, driving other types of crime and instilling fear. It manifests itself most graphically in drug addiction, in sexual exploitation and in gun crime. It is also big business. Trafficking in people and drugs, counterfeiting and financial crime have a UK turnover of many billions of pounds annually. Organised crime groups are highly sophisticated, working in tight-knit structures and prepared to use ruthless measures to achieve their objectives. Their illicit activities are underpinned by money laundering operations, which turn the proceeds of crime into bankable profits.

  42.  A successful approach to organised crime is therefore inseparable from our wider effort to improve the overall effectiveness of policing in England and Wales and to make vulnerable communities and law-abiding citizens safer.

The Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA)

  43.  The Home Secretary has announced his intention to create a Serious and Organised Crime Agency. This agency will be operative by 1 April 2006. It will bring together staff, expertise and skills from Customs and Excise, the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, as well as from Immigration Crime Teams.

  44.  SOCA is neither a police nor a customs/immigration organisation. It is a new body that will be driven by the intelligence assessment of what will be most effective in reducing the enormous harm caused by organised crime to individuals, to communities and to the well-being of the country.

  45.  The Agency will offer specialist assistance to local police forces and other law enforcement agencies, both in terms of analysis of intelligence and operational support. This will ensure that there is an effective link between the Agency's efforts to combat organised crime at national level and the work being done by police forces at local level.

  46.  A Home Office programme team has been set up to ensure that SOCA is established on time, working in concert with staff in the existing agencies and other interested stakeholders. Work is now moving from the scoping and set-up phase into the substantive issues affecting implementation.

THE REASSURANCE AGENDA

Community Engagement

  47.  Increasing community engagement underpins the drive to increase the citizen focus of the police service and implement neighbourhood policing across all forces. Our aim is to mainstream community engagement so that it becomes a part of core business for all forces. This is about involving all communities in the process of identifying which problems are local priorities, finding solutions and being able to hold local police and agencies to account for their actions.

  48.  Customer responsiveness is about fully understanding the needs of citizens and local communities and redesigning and delivering services around those needs. Improved engagement helps forces to do their job more effectively and increased public participation will help to increase levels of trust, confidence and reassurance.

  49.  There is no "one size fits all" approach to community engagement. Home Office and other research indicates that there are many barriers to effective engagement in the policing environment, including a need for better support for practitioners and a lack of accessible information on effective engagement practice techniques. To overcome this, we have invited a group of experienced practitioners from forces and authorities to form the National Practitioner Panel for Community Engagement to look at how best to support effective engagement in policing.

Neighbourhood Policing

  50.  Effective and responsive policing at neighbourhood level is essential to sustaining the confidence and trust of the public and tackling crime and anti-social behaviour. A key feature of this will be dedicated neighbourhood teams of police officers and Community Support Officers working in concert with wardens and other members of the extended police family to drive down crime in local communities throughout England and Wales.

  51.  The Home Secretary has announced his intention that there should be 25,000 CSOs and wardens by 2008. This represents a five-fold increase on current CSO numbers and will be funded from the Neighbourhood Policing Fund.

  52.  Unlike previous community policing initiatives, neighbourhood policing means more than putting additional "bobbies" on the beat, or installing an extra community officer. We need a police service that is capable of responding to the challenges of crime and anti-social behaviour in the 21st century and which makes full use of the increased powers of enforcement, better equipment and modernised working practices. We also need a police service that is able to harness the energy of its local communities and partners, to exchange information and work together to drive down crime and anti-social behaviour and increase the ratio of offences brought to justice.

  53.  Above all, we are seeking to change the relationship between the individual citizen, the local neighbourhood and the police service so that they work in partnership to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour. This does not mean prescribing a particular approach. There is already much good practice in a number of areas and we will build on this to ensure that community safety issues are tackled in the most effective way possible.

The National Reassurance Policing Programme (NRPP)

  54.  The National Reassurance Policing Programme is a joint ACPO/Home Office programme. It aims to establish whether a reassurance policing model based on the concept of "signal crimes" can impact upon the public perception of risk and insecurity. The policing model is designed to address the gap between falling crime levels and rising fear of crime.

  55.  Community Support Officers (CSOs) can play a key role in making community members feel reassured and evidence from the NRPP evaluation shows that they are starting to supply large amounts of good quality intelligence to mainstream police officers.

  56.  In addition to the evidence on CSOs being gathered by the NRPP, forces have also carried out local evaluations of CSOs. These evaluations have suggested that:

—  CSOs have proved popular and effective in the communities that they serve, including communities throughout the four Welsh force areas;

—  CSOs can have a substantial impact on some types of anti-social behaviour and crime. 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%;

—  CSOs are having a positive effect on public reassurance. Research carried out by the MPS indicated that 50-70% of residents felt more reassured about their safety after the introduction of PCSOs.

  57.  We are currently carrying out an evaluation of CSOs throughout England and Wales, which will build on the work undertaken through the NRPP and local evaluations. An interim report is expected in December 2004 and a full report in summer 2005.

PARTNERSHIPS

Local Authorities

  58.  Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 recognises that certain key authorities have responsibility for the provision of a wide and varied range of services to and within the community. In carrying out these functions, section 17 places a duty on them to do all they can to reasonably prevent crime and disorder in their area.

  59.  The purpose of section 17 is simple: the level of crime and its impact is influenced by the decisions and activities taken in the day-to-day business of local bodies and organisations. Section 17 is aimed at giving the vital work of crime and disorder reduction a focus across the wide range of local services and putting it at the heart of local decision-making.

Crime and Disorder Partnerships

  60.  The Crime and Disorder Act 1998, as amended by the Police Reform Act 2002, set out statutory requirements for responsible authorities to work with other local agencies and organisations to develop and implement strategies to tackle crime and disorder and misuse of drugs in their area. These statutory partnerships are known as Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships in England and Community Safety Partnerships in Wales.

  61.  The responsible authorities are:

—  the police;

—  local authorities (including social services, youth offending teams etc);

—  fire authorities;

—  police authorities;

—  primary care trusts (this was commenced by order with effect from 30th April 2004); and

—  health authorities in Wales.

  62.  There are 354 CDRPs in England and 22 Community Safety Partnerships in Wales. In Wales Community Safety Partnerships already have responsibility for crime and disorder and substance abuse reduction. In England there are 149 Drug Action Teams (DATs) and these teams are required to work more closely or integrate with their local CDRP by 1 April 2004.

  63.  Many partnerships have already begun the integration/loser working process and, rather than prescribing structures, the Home Office recommends that local partners should decide locally on structures which best meet local circumstances and which will enable these agreed outcomes to be delivered effectively.

  64.  Responsible authorities (in practice usually Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships) are required by law to carry out audits every three years to:

—  identify the extent of crime and disorder problems in their community; and

—  develop strategies to deal effectively with these problems.

  65.  The Anti social Behaviour Action Plan sets out why it is important to tackle ASB and change the culture that lets it go unchallenged. CDRPs are required to audit the extent of ASB in their area and include priorities to address ASB in their strategies.

  66.  In the White Paper, Building Communities, Beating Crime, the Government announced its intention to enable local communities to hold the police and community safety partners to account for their responsiveness. This means ensuring that local people know how to engage with CDRPs and understand what they can expect from the agencies working on community safety issues. To facilitate this, the Government will formally review the partnership provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

  67.  The Review will be conducted by the Home Office, the Local Government Association, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Association of Police Authorities and will involve all key stakeholders and practitioners. The Review will report its conclusions by January 2005.

USE AND AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES

Police Funding Settlement 2004-05

  68.  The total provision for policing in 2004-05 in England and Wales is £10,099 million. This is a cash rise of £416 million 4.2% (+1.5% in real terms) over 2003-04. This increased provision also builds on significant additions of 10.1% in 2001-02, 7.3% in 2002-03 and 6.2% in 2003-04.

  69.  Between 2000-01 and 2004-05, the total provision for policing to be supported by grant or spent centrally on services for the police has risen by over £2.3 billion or over 30%. The Home Secretary decided exceptionally this year, to provide a standard increase in general grant of 3.25% for each police authority in England and Wales. This took account of the pressures on police authorities and expectations on them to deliver budgets that ensured further improvements without placing excessive burdens on local taxpayers.

  Wales 2004-05

	2004-05 General Grant	Grant increase	CFF	Rural	BCU	Airway	CSO	DNA Ex Prog	Total 2004-05
	£m	%	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Dyfed-Powys	50.89	3.25	2.29	2.63	0.27	0.04	0.11	0.24	56.47
Gwent	71.81	3.25	2.36	0.20	0.48	0.18	0.88	0.47	76.38
North Wales	75.77	3.25	3.01	1.54	0.43	0.07	0.43	0.67	81.92
South Wales	168.18	3.25	4.63	0.00	1.11	0.43	0.67	1.26	176.28
TOTAL	366.65	3.25	12.29	4.37	2.29	0.72	2.09	2.64	391.05

  70.  Welsh forces are receiving a total of £366.65m in general grant (comprised of Home Office police grant and WAG Revenue Support Grant and National Non Domestic Rates). Each Authority is receiving a general grant increase of 3.25 per cent.

  71.  Because the Welsh Assembly does not—unlike ODPM for English local authorities—operate a grant "floors and ceilings" system, the Home Secretary agreed to provide additional funding to ensure Welsh Authorities are treated in the same way as English authorities. That is, where a Welsh Police Authority would otherwise receive a lower policing grant increase than the minimum or "floor" percentage increase set for English police authorities, the Home Secretary has in the past agreed to extra payments, outside the Settlement totals, to bring Welsh forces up to the English floor. Payments were made in 2002-03 and 2003-04. For this year, 2004-05, a total of £13.7 million has been allocated to Dyfed-Powys (£1.41 million), Gwent (£2.12 million), North Wales (£1.51 million) and South Wales (£8.63 million) to bring their allocations up to the "floor" level of 3.25% Decisions on this special arrangement are made annually and Ministers are now considering the position for 2005-06.

  72.  On top of general grant, they are receiving allocations from specific grants totalling £24.4m from the main specific grants: the Crime Fighting Fund, the Rural Policing Fund, BCU Fund, Airwave, Community Support Officers and the DNA Expansion Programme.

BUDGETS AND PRECEPTS 2004-05

  73.  The average Welsh budget increase in 2004-05 was 8.1 per cent (Average across England and Wales was 5.7 per cent).

	1999-00	Annual change	2000-01	Annual change	2001-02	Annual change	2002-03	Annual change	2003-04	Annual change	2004-05	Annual change
	£m	%	£m	%	£m	%	£m	%	£	%	£m	%
Dyfed-Powys	55.7	7.6%	59.0	5.9%	62.9	6.5%	65.3	3.9%	71.2	9.0%	77.0	8.1%
Gwent	71.4	6.7%	76.1	6.6%	80.7	6.0%	84.4	4.6%	92.0	9.0%	98.2	6.8%
North Wales	79.6	7.6%	84.0	5.6%	89.5	6.5%	93.5	4.5%	104.6	12.0%	115.2	10.1%
South Wales	170.0	5.5%	1791	5.4%	188.9	5.5%	195.0	3.2%	201.0	3.1%	216.6	7.8%
Average precept in England was £121 for a shire authority and £93 for a metropolitan authority).

  75.  The average Welsh precept increase was 15.3 per cent.

	1990-00	Annual change	2000-01	Annual change	2001-02	Annual change	2002-03	Annual change	2003-04	Annual change	2004-05	Annual change
	£	%	£	%	£	%	£	%	£	%	£	%
Dyfed	72.99	22.5	85.41	17.0	90.90	6.4	98.10	7.9	124.11	26.5	142.65	14.9
Powys
Gwent	59.74	9.9	74.97	25.5	84.03	12.1	95.17	13.3	119.11	25.2	139.13	16.8
North Wales	66.33	13.3	78.49	18.3	82.72	5.4	96.53	16.7	126.94	31.5	151.57	19.4
South Wales	65.36	16.2	80.42	23.0	85.57	6.4	89.85	5.0	103.51	15.2	115.71	11.8

  76.  No Welsh Police Authority was capped by the Assembly in 2004/05.

Police Funding Settlement 2005-06

  77.  The provisional police funding settlement for 2005-06 in England and Wales will be announced later this month.

  78.  Home Office Ministers are currently working through the detail of the settlement to generate a realistic police grant increase. In deciding on the grant level in the settlement, the Home Secretary is taking into consideration estimates of financial pressures on police authorities from a recent ACPO/APA survey and the importance of keeping council tax increases to reasonable levels.

  79.  The Welsh Assembly Government will determine capping policy in Wales.

Police Numbers in Wales

Year	Police Officer numbers in Wales
	Dyfed Powys	Gwent	North Wales	South Wales	Wales Total
March 1996	991	1,044	1,378	3,027	6,440
March 1997	1,005	1,243	1,369	2,976	6,592
March 1998	1,002	1,233	1,396	2,986	6,617
March 1999	1,026	1,247	1,391	2,981	6,645
March 2000	1,040	1,264	1,403	2,926	6,633
March 2001	1,055	1,274	1,444	3,154	6,927
March 2002	1,132	1,333	1,506	3,222	7,194
March 2003	1,149	1,341	1,539	3,239	7,268
March 2004	1,160	1,372	1,603	3,279	7,414
August 2004	1,165	1,394	1,591	3,264	7,414

  80.  Dyfed Powys and Gwent were at record levels of police officers as at 31 May 2004. Both forces are only two officers below that level now. North Wales was at record levels in August 2003. Numbers have fallen by 16 since then—only 1% of force strength. South Wales is 15 below its record level, which was reached in March this year. This is a very small decrease and amounts to only 0.5% of force strength.

  81.  Small fluctuations in force strength are expected from month to month. Wastage from each force is calculated every month, however recruitment intakes are less often so fluctuations can occur in force strength because of this.

  82.  Police numbers in Wales increased by 822 between March 1997 and August 2004. The Home Secretary is committed to maintaining record police numbers in England and Wales while putting in place a total of 25,000 CSOs and wardens over the next three years. The recruitment of the next phase of CSOs has already begun.

Year	Police Support Staff numbers in Wales
	Dyfed Powys	Gwent	North Wales	South Wales	Wales Total
March 1997	322	452	476	1,206	2,455
March 2002	459	570	645	1,435	3,109
March 2003	499	607	703	1,343	3,152
March 2004	523	623	832	1,415	3,393

  83.  Police support staff numbers in Wales have increased by 938 between March 1997 and March 2004 to reach 3,393. Police staff may be deployed to duties formerly carried out by police officers to release them for front line duties.

Community Support Officers

	Dyfed Powys	Gwent	North Wales	South Wales
August 2004	4	47	8	63

Response to the O'Dowd Report on Bureaucracy

  84.  The O'Dowd report was published in September 2002 and contained 52 recommendations. A steering group, co-chaired by ACPO and the Home Office and with representatives from all key police stakeholders, was set up to take forward the action plan arising from the report. To date, 27 recommendations have been delivered, 21 are underway and it has been collectively agreed that four should not be taken forward nationally. The recommendations still underway mostly require legislation, developments in IT or wide-ranging changes to the criminal justice system. The steering group has since widened its remit to address issues relating to bureaucracy as they arise, in addition to the recommendations contained in the O'Dowd report.

  85.  Effective communication to front line officers of the good progress being made nationally remains central to the success of the drive against bureaucracy. Each force has a named officer to oversee the implementation of the Taskforce recommendations, ensuring that the progress being made nationally is assimilated into the lives of officers on the beat. The Home Office is also continuing to take every opportunity to raise the profile of the work that is being done. For example, articles on reducing bureaucracy are included in each Police Briefing and regular updates are added to the e-bulletin to all forces. We have also appointed a National Bureaucracy Advisor at Acting Assistant Chief Constable level to enhance our capacity in this area. He is visiting forces to provide practical assistance in their work to reduce bureaucracy, raise awareness of the whole agenda and, where necessary, challenge existing practices and assumptions.

  86.  In terms of evaluating progress, HMIC's baseline assessment provides a summary of the progress made by forces in terms of reducing bureaucracy. The outcome of forces' work in this area is being quantified in force efficiency plans. This will enable us to assess the overall impact of our initiatives to reduce bureaucracy in terms of additional time spent by police officers on front line duties.

  87.  There have been a number of achievements to date:

—  Over 7,700 forms have been made obsolete across all 43 forces.

—  All 43 forces now undertake video identity parades to speed up the identification of suspects. This greatly reduces bureaucracy, is welcomed by forces and, over five years, will deliver an overall saving of £143 million to the police service.

—  Over 70,000 police officers and staff now use Airwave radios in 40 forces and 20 forces are using mobile information.

—  The national roll out of the penalty notice for disorder scheme was completed in April 2004. Over 20,000 tickets had been issued at the end of August, each representing a file for court not having to be prepared.

—  There are 198 Livescan Units, which enable electronic fingerprint images to be taken from people instantly in 35 forces.

—  We are investing £13 million over two years into 10 pilot projects which test out new ways of using police staff, thereby freeing up officers' time to go back on the beat.

—  HMIC's assessment of force 2003-04 Efficiency Plans noted that 25 forces had between them identified efficiency gains of £25.2 million attributed to implementing Bureaucracy Taskforce recommendations.

—  We have set up a Reducing Bureaucracy Awards Scheme with the Police Federation that encourages frontline officers to come up with suggestions for reducing bureaucracy. The first awards ceremony took place at the Police Federation Conference in May.

—  Good progress is being made to address the concerns around the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) including new forms and codes of practice.

—  The Policing Bureaucracy Gateway began to operate on 1 September 2004. This identifies, challenges and influences the demands made by new policies, legislation and procedures that affect the police service.

—  In the White Paper, Building Communities, Beating Crime, published earlier this month, the Government announced its intention to set up an action-line for officers, to raise any questions they might have about bureaucracy.

Progress in Dyfed-Powys

  88.  Dyfed-Powys police force has civilianised its custody functions, employing 15 staff with powers designated under the Police Reform Act, and releasing the equivalent number of police officers back to the front line. As well as putting more officers onto the streets to fight crime, the creation of a team of specialists is leading to more efficient and cost-effective handling of prisoners. The new team has integrated well with local officers who have found the new system allows them to process prisoners far more quickly, saving them hours of paperwork and letting them get back out on visible patrol.

POLICE PERFORMANCE IN WALES AND COMPARISON WITH OTHER FORCES

General Overview—Embedding Police Performance

  89.  A stronger focus on performance is now firmly embedding itself in the police service and will continue to drive forward the delivery of policing. The requirements for improving overall police performance in England and Wales and for closing the gap between the best performing forces and others—as set out in the Public Service Agreement targets set at the time of the Spending Review 2002—are key to ensuring high standards of policing and consistent professionalism across the country. This is central to the Government's sustained programme of police reform.

  90.  The embedding of a performance-focused approach to policing is encompassed in both the national arrangements for assessing effective performance and in the steps to enhance the capability of the police service to deliver performance improvements. Key components of the approach to shaping this performance drive have been:

—  arriving at a more comprehensive and informed view of what comprises effective police performance;

—  a greater emphasis on assessments of force performance which are objective, independent and data driven;

—  more use of comparative performance information which highlights variations in achievement between forces, Basic Command Units and their peer groups;

—  an increase in the capability to access up-to-date performance data at both the national and local level.

  91.  The inception of the Police Standards Unit (PSU) was a strong feature of December 2001 White Paper. The focus of PSU's activities is to:

—  Measure and assess police forces performance.

—  Understand the underlying causes of performance variations.

—  Provide support and focused assistance to forces where a problem with performance has been identified.

—  Sponsor and disseminate proven good practice.

The Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF)

  92.  The 2002 National Policing Plan explained that the Home Office, in partnership with ACPO, APA and other key stakeholders, would be developing a balanced performance assessment framework for policing—the "Policing Performance and Assessment Framework". PPAF will facilitate the monitoring of policing performance across seven key domains: citizen focus; reducing crime; investigating crime; promoting public safety; providing assistance; resource usage; and local priorities. The Home Office sets Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) for the first six domains and police authorities set indicators for the local domain.

  93.  PPAF is intended to provide a comprehensive, fair and rigorous assessment framework for policing in England and Wales. The first publication of PPAF assessments will take place next year, in the autumn. Three Police Performance Monitoring reports (on 2001/02, 2002/03 and 2003/04 performance) have been published using interim measures and presentation methods while PPAF is being developed.

  94.  PPAF "release 1" in April 2004 introduced 13 Statutory Performance Indicators consisting of 36 measures. These included an improved focus on "user satisfaction" and measures have also been introduced to monitor any irregularities in operational performance (eg detection rates for violent crime by ethnicity of victim). A measure on front-line policing has also been introduced. Work continues to develop new and revised measures for statutory introduction on 1 April 2005. The intention this year is to undertake consultation as part of the process to prepare the National Policing Plan 2005-08. This should enable us to advise police authorities and forces on 2005/06 measures on publication of the National Policing Plan at the end of this month. PPAF has been accepted by ACPO and the APA as a fair means of assessing the complexities of police duties.

iQuanta

  95.  Another key development that PSU have driven over the past year has been the development of iQuanta. Rather than having to rely on old crime statistics, iQuanta provides real-time data on the performance of all forces and BCUs across all major crime types. iQuanta is an internet based performance management tool for policing. It has been live since October 2003. Access to iQuanta is password-protected. iQuanta now has more than 2,500 users. These include police officers and other police staff involved in performance management in forces and BCUs, and members of CDRPs.

  96.  Force, BCU and CDRP performance are displayed in several different types of charts, including bar charts, projection charts and comparison charts. The different chart types allow performance to be seen relative to past performance, peer performance and performance targets. Forces are compared with their "most similar forces". BCUs and CDRPs are compared with their most similar BCUs and CDRPs. This comparison method allows meaningful judgements to be drawn about performance. The most similar groups were created through analysis of variables that correlate statistically with the likelihood of crime in any given force, BCU or CDRP area.

  97.  Data is available on crime rates, detections, sanction detections, offences brought to justice, public satisfaction and fear of crime. Charts also track success in meeting relevant PSA targets and compliance on PNC timeliness compliance at force level.

Performance Support

  98.  PSU is engaged with eight under-performing or "target" forces: Avon & Somerset, Cambridgeshire, Cleveland, GMP, Humberside, Nottinghamshire, Northants, and West Yorkshire. This proactive role has changed the dynamic of the Department's relationship with the police service—underpinned by a sound analytical and evidence-based footing—demonstrating a new and effective way of doing business.

  99.  Each engagement has been different. In some PSU has helped a force's own improvement regime to go further and faster. In others, the Unit has been a catalyst for change. In the third category, PSU's involvement has a more fundamental process of attempting to put the force on a path towards recovery.

  100.  Over 2003/4, the forces with which PSU was engaged reduced volume crime by 13.3%, which is twice the rate of the other forces in England and Wales. Three of the five largest reductions in crime across the 43 forces were in PSU's target forces. PSU's funding amounts to only around 0.33% of the total force resource budgets suggesting PSU's interventions are cost-effective. PSU's budget has allowed the provision of prompt funding and evaluation for cutting-edge projects, particularly around how forces drive performance improvements.

  101.  In liaison with ACPO, PSU has launched the high profile, national Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaign. This links in to the government's Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy and aims to crack down on alcohol-fuelled disorder, through the use of tough enforcement measures taking action against irresponsible drinkers and vendors who are fuelling anti-social behaviour. To date, 39 police forces are involved, as well as other related partners including Trading Standards and the Department of Health. This campaign has been positively received and early data has provided a baseline to measure the impact and success that this campaign will have throughout the summer.

  102.  PSU's work on national projects, such as Automatic Number-Plate Recognition (ANPR), National Video Identification (NVIS) and the Policing Priority Areas (PPAs) have been widely recognised as a success. In the period June 2003-May 2004, during the ANPR project, 173,000 vehicles were stopped, 13,000 arrests made, 51,000 FPNs issued and £8 million property recovered. £1 million in hypothecated income has been generated and the rate of 100 arrests per full time officer is 10 times the national average.

  103.  PSU's role in police use of forensic science has been successful, in particular on DNA and NAFIS (Fingerprint Automation) and through reviewing and changing force-level forensic processes. This has helped the 62% increase in the number of DNA matches achieved and the 34% increase in the number of "DNA detections" delivered. PSU have lead development of a computer simulation model for forces to identify blockages in their forensic processes. A work-package of good practice is to be disseminated to all forces in August 2004.

  104.  Launched in March 2002 the Policing Priority Programme was aligned to the Government's Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal and sites were first piloted in Bradford, Bristol, Camberwell, Rhyl and Stoke. Each demonstrated how working with small communities suffering from crime, the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour can bring about significant improvements in police and partnership working. This police-led programme has now been extended and is in its fourth phase where Forces were invited to submit expressions of interest. Neighbourhood Renewal funding was no longer part of the selection criteria although Forces needed to make a business case as to how similar their areas were to Neighbourhood Renewal funding criteria. There are now 29 identified sites. There has been significant success in reducing crime and providing public reassurance in the existing PPAs and the programme continues to build on the progress made so far.

Performance of the Welsh Forces

  105.  The Police Performance Monitoring report for 2003/04, published in September 2004, looks at performance over six domains of policing. This report shows that performance in North Wales and South Wales is generally improving. Performance in Gwent and Dyfed-Powys shows an apparent decline, but in the domains of "Reducing Crime" and "Investigating Crime" these two forces remain above the average for comparable forces.

Dyfed-Powys

Financial year 2003/04

  106.  The most similar forces to Dyfed-Powys are Devon & Cornwall, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Wales, North Yorkshire and Suffolk.

  107.  Performance data across the target crimes shows rises in the financial year 2003/04:

—  41.7% increase in Domestic Burglary

—  14.6% increase in Vehicle Crime

—  35% increase in Robbery.

  108.  Increasing compliance with the National Crime Recording Standard has contributed to a large increase in crime numbers and a reduction in detections per crime from the previous year. However, performance on Investigating and Reducing Crime is still greatly above that of the most similar forces.

—  Dyfed-Powys has the lowest rate of crimes per 1,000 population in England & Wales.

—  The percentage of offences brought to justice fell by 4.3%.

—  The percentage of offences brought to justice fell by 4.3 per cent.

—  The percentage of offences detected and sanctioned fell by 33.2 per cent.

—  Performance is better than its peers in all domains except Resource Usage (sickness levels.)

—  Dyfed Powys was considered "excellent" in dealing with Volume Crime, Hate Crime and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, but "poor" in Human Resource Management by the HMIC baseline assessment. All other performance domains were considered "good" or "fair".

Gwent

Financial year 2003/04

  109.  The most similar forces to Gwent are Durham, Hertfordshire, Humberside, Kent, Lancashire, Northamptonshire and South Wales.

  110.  Performance data shows a mixed picture across the target crimes in the financial year 2003-04:

—  6.6% increase in Domestic Burglary

—  7.1% increase in Vehicle crime

—  16.7% decrease in Robbery

—  The percentage of offences brought to justice rose by 2.7%.

—  The percentage of offences detected and sanctioned fell by 11.7%.

—  Gwent"s performance is above that of its peers for the domains of Reducing Crime, Investigating Crime and Promoting Public Safety.

—  However, the Reducing Crime and Investigating Crime domains have seen a decline in performance since 2002-03.

—  Gwent is one of a small number of forces to have had an increase in numbers of the target crimes (domestic burglary, vehicle crime and robbery) since 2002-03.

—  Sickness rates for police officers and other staff in 2003-04 were the highest in England and Wales, and had increased from the previous year.

—  Gwent was considered "excellent" in dealing with Reassurance by the HMIC baseline assessment. All other performance domains were considered "good" or "fair".

North Wales

  111.  The most similar forces to North Wales are Devon and Cornwall, Dyfed-Powys, Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire and Suffolk.

  112.  Performance data indicates improvements in performance in the current financial year, with year on year comparisons showing:

—  23% decrease in Domestic Burglary

—  5.9% decrease in Vehicle crime

—  10.3% decrease in Robbery

—  The percentage of offences brought to justice rose by 6.1%.

—  The percentage offences detected and sanctioned unchanged.

—  North Wales is performing better than its most similar forces in the area of Reducing Crime and has also had an above average reduction in the number of target crimes.

—  Performance is slightly below average for its most similar forces in the other five domains.

—  The investigating crime domain shows an improvement from the previous year, with an increase in offences brought to justice per crime.

—  Sickness levels have increased from the previous year.

—  North Wales was considered "excellent" in dealing with Critical Incident Management, but "poor" in Call Handling. All other performance domains were considered "good" or "fair".

South Wales

  113.  The most similar forces to South Wales are Avon and Somerset, Durham, Gwent, Humberside, Lancashire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.

  114.  Performance data indicates improvements in performance in the current financial year, with year on year comparisons showing:

—  9.7% decrease in Domestic Burglary

—  11% decrease in Vehicle crime

—  4.2% decrease in Robbery

—  The percentage of offences brought to justice rose by 3.1%.

—  The percentage of offences detected and sanctioned fell by 1.3%

—  In 2003/04 South Wales performed better than its peers for the domains of Reducing Crime, Investigating Crime, Citizen Focus and Promoting Public Safety.

—  South Wales has seen an improvement in performance from the previous year.

—  Performance on Resource Usage and Providing Assistance was slightly below average, but sickness rates have fallen slightly from the previous year. South Wales was considered "excellent" in dealing with Hate Crime, Professional Standards and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships. All other performance domains were graded "good" or "fair".

Science and Technology

  115.  The 2001 Police Reform White Paper identified the need for a coherent Science and Technology strategy for the police service in England and Wales. The first "Police Science and Technology Strategy" was published in January 2003, covering the five-year period from 2003 to 2008. Its overall aim was to ensure that "the police service is equipped to exploit the opportunities in science and technology to deliver effective policing as part of a modern and respected criminal justice system."

DNA

  116.  The UK is currently the world leader in the use of DNA to identify criminals. We have the largest DNA database, currently holding 2.73 million DNA profiles taken from 2.45 million suspected offenders, as at the end of September 2004. The National DNA database has made a significant contribution to crime detection in England and Wales by conclusively linking DNA found at crime scenes to offenders. In 2003-04, the overall detection rate was 23%, but where DNA was successfully recovered from a crime scene and loaded onto the DNA database, the detection rate rose to 43%.

National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS)

  117.  The IDENT1 project will take forward the existing National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) capability and provide a strategic platform for future biometric capabilities and a wider range of identification services, including palm print searching in England and Wales. This project is closely aligned to PALM1, its counterpart project in Scotland.

  118.  IDENT1, continuing from NAFIS and AFR (Automated Fingerprint Recognition), will be an essential tool for the wider criminal justice community. It will help with the identification, bringing to justice and successful conviction of offenders.

  119.  The legislative changes in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 enable fingerprints to be taken on arrest. This with the use of technology to digitally scan and check prints in custody suites means that there is less chance that the police will arrest and then release a suspect only to find that they gave a false identity and were wanted for a much more serious charge.

Airwave

  120.  Airwave is the new radio communication system for the police service in England, Wales and Scotland. Airwave is based on terrestrial trunked radio technology (TETRA), a European standard that was agreed in the 1990s by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

  121.  Airwave is not simply a replacement for existing systems. Airwave uses digital technology, and so offers very clear quality signals. Airwave will enable more of the country to be covered: far fewer "holes" in coverage that can endanger police officers. Thanks to its sophisticated encryption techniques, TETRA technology is secure. Criminals can no longer eavesdrop on police communications. Airwave also provides high capacity. TETRA can cope with major incidents, when many users will want to use their radios at the same time, without overloading the network. TETRA can transmit voice and data communications at the same time so that police officers can use their radios to connect with facilities such as the Police National Computer.

  122.  Airwave is now available in 38 forces and has more than 60,000 users. Airwave is expected to be available to all forces by mid-2005, with all forces being fully operational by mid-2006.

  123.  Feedback from officers and senior staff is that they are very much impressed with the clarity of the signal and the improvement in coverage. Some officers already have access to the PNC Vehicles database through their Airwave handset, more will get such access and officers will access to the PNC Names database over the summer.

ViSOR

  124.  ViSOR is a software application that stores information about offenders with convictions for violent and sex offences. It is also a management system that enables police and probation services to manage these offenders. The data is stored in encrypted form and access to the system is only permitted to named individuals who meet the stringent tests for access to this sensitive material. It has been developed at a cost of about £10 million and will be rolled out to Police forces by the end of 2004.

THE DIVISION OF POWERS AND THE WORKING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE UK GOVERNMENT AND THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES ON POLICING MATTERS

  125.  Under the devolution settlement for Scotland, the responsibilities for the Secretary of State for Scotland for policing transferred to the Scottish Parliament and to its executive. Policing was never part of the portfolio of the Secretary of State for Wales and no transfer of responsibility for policing to the National Assembly for Wales was contemplated in the Labour manifesto 1997 or the subsequent legislation and proposals put to a referendum. Scotland has always had a separate criminal justice system within the United Kingdom while that of Wales has always been common with that of England.

Current Position

  126.  We still maintain that the benefits accruing to the people of Wales from sharing a common criminal justice system with England outweigh those from devolving responsibility for elements of the criminal justice system such as policing the National Assembly for Wales. We fear diseconomies of scale, for example in the provision of training, a loss of impetus through opting out of police reform and a diversion of energy through readjusting planning and performance management.

  127.  The current devolution settlement was set out in the 1997 manifesto and validated in a referendum and in legislation. Ministers are happy to work with the National Assembly for Wales on issues of common interest.

  128.  We recognise that the Richard Commission is an important initiative by the National Assembly for Wales. It is worth noting however, that the Commission report did not, in the end, propose that devolution of policing or criminal justice functions to the National Assembly for Wales.

  129.  The quality of policing is important and the Government is driving a major programme of police reform and a wider reform of the criminal justice system to drive up the number of offences brought to justice and to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. Ministers want to put the interests of victims at the heart of the criminal justice system. It will not benefit the people of Wales if they were excluded from these important reforms.

  130.  Welsh forces and police authorities benefit from the work done by the national representative organisations such as the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Association of Police Authorities. Forces benefit from the economies of scale available through a national service of training centres.

  131.  Various mechanisms exist for co-operation and information sharing between the National Assembly for Wales and the Home Office. There is significant contact at a Ministerial level. For example, Caroline Flint met with Edwina Hart in June to discuss how best to assist the delivery of shared strategies and objectives across Wales and the UK, particularly in respect of drugs, alcohol and prostitution. There are also regular meetings and contact at official level on specific policy areas, often to discuss matters of common interest and reciprocal arrangements.

Annex

ONE DAY COUNT OF ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR: 10 SEPTEMBER 2003

  One in five people perceive high levels of disorder in their area. This has a considerable impact on public services such as the police, local authorities and the fire service. The Anti-Social Behaviour Unit has undertaken a snapshot count of reports that were made to agencies in England and Wales on one day.

  On 10 September 2003 agencies collected the number of reports from the public on a range of different areas, including litter, vandalism and intimidation. Over 1,500 organisations took part and information was received from every Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area in England and Wales. Whilst reports are not the same as incidents of anti-social behaviour, the snapshot is indicative of the large number of contacts concerning the issue on a typical weekday.

  Between midnight on Tuesday and midnight on Wednesday, 66,107 reports of anti-social behaviour were made to participating agencies. This equates to more than one report every two seconds or around 16.5 million reports every year. Anti-social behaviour recorded on the day of the count cost agencies in England and Wales at least £13.5 million, this equates to around £3.4 billion a year.

Day Count Results

	Reports	Estimated Cost to Agencies per day (000s)	Estimated Cost to Agencies per year
Litter/rubbish	10,686	£1,866	£466m
Criminal damage/vandalism	7,855	£2,667	£667m
Vehicle related nuisance	7,782	£1,361	£340m
Nuisance behaviour	7,660	£1,420	£355m
Intimidation/harassment	5,415	£1,983	£496m
Noise	5,374	£994	£249m
Rowdy behaviour	5,339	£995	£249m
Abandoned vehicles	4,994	£360	£90m
Street drinking and begging	3,239	£504	£126m
Drug/substance misuse and drug dealing	2,920	£527	£132m
Animal related problems	2,546	£458	£114m
Hoax calls	1,286	£198	£49m
Prostitution, kerb crawling, sexual acts	1,011	£167	£42m
Total	66,107	£13,500	£3.375bn

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Prepared 23 March 2005