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The Home Office, in common with other Government Departments published its Structural Reform Plan this week.
Apparently ‘Structural Reform Plans are the key tool of the Coalition Government for making departments accountable for the implementation of the reforms set out in the Coalition Agreement. They replace the old, top-down systems of targets and central micromanagement’. There, now you know.
The five priorities for the Home Office are:
1. Enable the police and local communities to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour
Enable police forces and local communities to deal better with the anti-social behaviour and crime that blights people’s lives
2. Increase the accountability of the police to citizens
Make police forces more accountable to the communities they serve through oversight by a directly elected individual and transparency about what the police are doing locally to tackle crime
3. Secure our borders and control immigration
Limit non-European Economic Area migration, establish a Border Police Force to secure our borders and end the detention of children for immigration purposes
4. Protect people’s freedoms and civil liberties
Reverse state intrusion into the lives of law-abiding citizens by scrapping ID cards, bringing common sense into the employment vetting process and restoring rights of non-violent protest
5. Protect our citizens from terrorism
Support cross-government work on Counter Terrorism, prevent the spread of extremism and confront extremist groups
However, and it’s a massive however, all of this is subject to the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review process due to be completed by the Autumn. Reality: no money = no can do all these things.
However, looking on the bright side, the structural plan does outline the hoped for timescales for all this stuff. So, in the spirit of being helpful, I thought that I would try and put a little time line together for you. So, here goes…
By end of:
July 2010
Undertake a review of Olympic Security preparations
Aug 2010
Review current measures for the detention of children for immigration purposes
Sept 2010
Develop and consult on proposals to consolidate anti-social behaviour tools and powers to reduce complexity and provide effective interventions for police, local authorities and social landlords
Consult and develop proposals to overhaul the Licensing Act 2003 to strengthen local authority and police powers to remove licenses from, or refuse to grant licenses to, any premises that are causing problems
Consult and develop proposals to replace Police Authorities with directly elected individuals, who will be subject to strict checks and balances through locally elected representatives
Autumn 2010
Develop plans to deny public funds to any group that has recently espoused or incited violence or hatred and proscribe such organisations, subject to the advice of the police and security and intelligence agencies
October 2010
Develop options to pare back the police inspection and targets regime, especially targets and data requests imposed on the police by the Home Office
Introduction of temporary ban on legal highs
Consider changes to security and counter-terrorism policies and systems as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review under the direction of the National Security Council
November 2010
Develop options to ban below-cost sale of alcohol, working with other government departments
Trial police powers for charging minor offences, before launching a national roll out
Develop plans to extend the collaboration between police forces to deliver efficiencies by sharing certain functions between forces in the same area
Remove Stop and Account recording and reduce Stop and Search procedures
Support the Ministry of Justice in developing a rehabilitation Green Paper, including options for sentencing reform
Review counter-terrorism legislation, including Control Orders, and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA)
Publish proposals for the storage of internet and e-mail records, including introducing legislation if necessary
Develop proposals on how best to extend the UK’s ability to deport foreign nationals who threaten our national security
December 2010
Develop proposals with the police to strengthen arrangements to deal with serious crime and other crimes that cut across police force areas
Develop options and a strategy for drugs misuse, covering prevention, enforcement, treatment and reintegration (including rehabilitation), working with other government departments
Support the police in publishing local crime data every month in an open and standardised format, so that the public can get proper information about crime in their neighbourhoods and hold the police to account for their performance
Support the police in holding regular police ‘beat meetings’, supported by monthly crime data, so that residents can hold them to account
Develop changes to the criminal records and vetting and barring initiatives
January 2011
Full review of the remuneration and conditions of service for police officers and staff, alongside the Spending Review
First areas publish local crime data in an open and standardised format
Beat meetings take place using local crime data
Review of the ‘prevent’ strand of the counter-terrorism strategy with a clear separation between ‘prevent’ (Home Office lead) and ‘integration’ (Communities and Local Government lead)
Revise the ‘CONTEST’ counter-terrorism strategy
March 2011
Strengthen the UK’s protection against and ability to respond to a terrorist attack, including enhancing the nation’s resilience
April 2011
Ensure hospitals share non-confidential information with the police on knife and gun crime and other serious violence, working with the Department of Health
Improve the recording of hate crime by setting up systems to provide a consolidated set of data of hate-related offences, published in an open and standardised format
Draft a cross-government strategy to prevent violence against women
August 2011
Make changes to pre-flight checks to identify people who pose a potential terrorist threat and prevent those who pose a severe terrorist threat from flying into and out of the UK
November 2011
Introduce new system of temporary bans on new legal highs while health issues are considered by independent experts
Legislate through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill
Outlaw finger-printing of children at school without parental permission, working with the Department for Education
Further regulate CCTV, including Automatic Number Plate Recognition, to ensure that its use is proportionate and retains public confidence
Adopt protections of the Scottish model for the DNA database and publish guidance on the application of rights to remove DNA from the database
Restore rights to non-violent protest, in particular by reviewing the current legislation governing protests around Parliament and making necessary changes
(FYI – In the main I have excluded the asylum and immigration issues from this list)
Hope the list is helpful to you. I’m off for a stiff drink…
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