Chief Constable Alex Marshall (the chief exec of the College of Policing) argues that the changing mix of crime means that over the past 10 years, investigating and preventing crime is become more complex with crime such as child abuse and domestic violence taking up much more police time.
I can foresee a situation in the near future where the MoJ links its own funding to participation in the Justice Data Lab and puts pressure on other funders to do the same.
This is the sixth in a blog series based on the findings of the 2015 annual European Drugs Report published by the European
It is notable that women’s prisons, although facing all the problems of having to operate within a male focused system, have largely succeeded in improving the service they provide when conditions in men’s prisons have deteriorated so far, so quickly.
Like many of us, the NAO is in a slightly awkward position in regards to payment by results. On the one hand, it is reluctant to recommend that any public programme adopts a PbR approach because there does not, as yet, exist an evidence base that suggests it is an effective commissioning approach.
The homicide rate for England and Wales has fallen sharply since 2002/3, and we are one of the safest countries in the world.
Police use of tasers We can be rightly proud of the very low number of police
The 2015 statistics on Alcohol in England report a continuing reduction in our use and abuse of alcohol as a nation. However, it also makes very clear the unprecedented pressure that our over-use is putting on the health service with more and more hospital admissions linked to alcohol use and abuse.
It is clear that this group of drugs will be a priority for the EMCDDA to monitor over the coming years and that drug treatment agencies probably need to develop their understanding of legal highs and make sure they advertise that there is help available for those developing problems with their use.
It will be interesting to see whether the appointment of Michael Gove as Justice Secretary will have any impact on this parlous state of affairs. Clearly, the problems are becoming so entrenched that it will be difficult for much positive change to take place if, as is widely feared, the MoJ takes another big hit in the current spending review whose results will be announced in November 2015.
The NAO makes a very strong recommendation not only that all government payment by results schemes should be evaluated but that these evaluations should be shared across government in order to develop a more robust evidence base for PbR; indicating whether and how this commissioning model should be utilised.
If you would like a (free) once monthly email digest with the most recent content on what Michael Gove and the Ministry of Justice are up to (with an emphasis on the impact on prisons and probation), please Email me.
