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The audited data show that, between January 1999 and 30 June 2008, 81,757 offenders are recorded as having their licences revoked, of whom, as at 26 June 2009, 81,164 had been successfully returned to custody; the remaining 593 (or 0.7 per cent) have not yet been apprehended. A further 19 offenders who had been recalled prior to 1 January 1999 were also recorded as not having been returned to custody, thus giving an audited total of 612. The provisional data held by NOMS, which have not been reconciled with data held by police and probation, shows that in the period from 1 July 2008 to 31 March 2009 a further 10,208 offenders had their licences revoked, of whom, as of 26 June, 9,866 have been successfully apprehended and returned to custody and 342 (or 3.4 per cent) have not yet been apprehended, though experience suggests that most of these offenders will in due course be returned to prison.
The breakdown of the number of offenders whose licences have been revoked and who have not been returned to custody for each of the 42 local criminal justice board areas in England and Wales is given (table 3) in the information release, together with a breakdown of the offenders' index offences (table 2).
As part of the process of completing the audit, NOMS wrote to each police force and probation area in England and Wales, enclosing a list for each area of all offenders who have been recalled and have yet to be returned to custody. They were asked to check the list for accuracy and to determine whether some offenders might be removed from the list-because, for example, they had been returned to custody under a different name or had died. They were also asked to renew efforts to return to custody those who remained in the community. Following the audit, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) wrote to all police forces in England and Wales, asking them to take priority action to arrest and return to custody all those offenders on the list who had previously been convicted of sexual or violent offences, while also reviewing and renewing their efforts to apprehend the remainder. Intensive reviews of the priority cases are under way and are driving appropriate action.
More generally, ACPO will work with forces, and with other agencies and the Home Office, to ensure that the police continue to do all that they can to make the recall system effective. They will identify and disseminate information on what works and how to tackle the main obstacles to speedy arrests in these cases. For example, the Metropolitan Police has established a unit in each London borough dedicated to arresting wanted offenders, including those subject to recall. Other forces have instigated dedicated days of action for apprehending wanted offenders. All forces are also working with all the criminal justice agencies to integrate the management of offenders so that, when it is proposed to revoke an offender's licence, the police have the
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NOMS, the probation service and the police are working closely together to share information and improve working practices. For example, NOMS and the police are working to put in place a new "early warning system" for recall, whereby the probation service shares intelligence with the police on the likely whereabouts of the offender at the point at which recall is requested. Better information sharing and a clear and consistent identification of these offenders will greatly assist in ensuring their timely arrest.
The Government are committed to improving performance further and all agencies are working to ensure that they make the optimal contribution separately and together.
NOMS has established a network of "recall liaison officers", covering every probation area and police force to share information and improve performance. Performance data are issued and monitored monthly through local criminal justice boards (LCJBs). A best practice guide has been produced and is shortly to be issued to all LCJBs, designed to improve further multi-agency performance in respect of recall.
The performance for each area against the licence recall target for the periods April 2007 to March 2009 is given in the information release. The performance has been broken down by agency and by LCJB area. LCJBs monitor performance against the target. Over the past two years since the target was introduced, there has been a steady improvement in performance across all the agencies. We are committed to working with LCJBs to improve further performance.
I am advised by our statisticians that the first release of data in this manner is not a basis for ongoing release. I have therefore asked Ministry of Justice statisticians to work with the National Statistician to put a full range of data relating to licence recalls and placements back in custody into the public domain
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Treasury: Vote on Account
Statement
The Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Myners): My honourable friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Sarah McCarthy-Fry) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
This Statement gives notice of a resource commitment in advance of the authorisation by Parliament of supply provision for HM Treasury in 2009-10. There are no implications for cash spending.
In the 2009-10 vote on account (HC 1039) presented in November 2008, HM Treasury was voted resource provision of £142 million to cover spending on continuing services until the 2009-10 main estimates are voted by Parliament in July. The amount on account excluded any provision for financial stability-related resource consumption as, at the time, this was expected to be zero.
However, it has since been decided that a cost of capital charge should be applied to the Government's financial stability-related loans and investments. Cost of capital charge is a non-cash resource charge, accruing on a daily basis, designed to improve transparency under resource accounting and encourage the efficient use of assets. For 2009-10, the charge is forecast to be £450 million, which will not be available until the provision in the Treasury's 2009-10 main estimate, presented as HC 514, is voted by Parliament in July. This means that the proportion of the £450 million resources that will be consumed before the end of July (ie £135 million) will take resource spending over and above the £142 million authorised in the vote on account causing a resource commitment in advance of supply.
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