Thursday 14:27
Police forces across England and Wales are reducing crime and bringing more offenders to justice according to police performance assessments published today by the Home Office.
The police have succeeded in reducing recorded crime by 6.2%, the total number of offences brought to justice has increased and people are less worried about being victims of crime than in previous years.
In the majority of forces the risk of being a victim of crime has decreased and the police service as a whole achieved 78 per cent user satisfaction.
The performance assessment reports are central to the task of improving performance across the police service. The performance of each force is measured on its ability to reduce crime, investigate crime, promote public safety, provide assistance, deliver local policing, use resources effectively and improve citizen focused policing. The reports show significant improvements in more than half of the areas assessed and, at a national level, improvements in most performance measures.
For the first time, the assessments bring together both the Government's performance indicators, set out in the National Policing Plan, and the professional assessments of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary. They provide a clear grading for each aspect of a force's performance, in comparison with most similar forces, and show whether a force's individual performance has improved or deteriorated over 12 months.
Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said:
"The overall picture of policing performance is very encouraging. Crime and the fear of crime are both down and the number of offences brought to justice has gone up.
"Raising police performance, and reducing the variations in performance between forces, is a cornerstone of the Government's reform agenda. Over the last three years we have seen real and sustainable improvements in police performance.
"This publication provides a clear picture of police performance designed to enable forces to identify strengths and weaknesses and help local communities to understand the performance of their force, promoting accountability and responsiveness.
"The reports also identify areas for improvement, in particular in terms of how the service engages and responds to community concerns. We are driving up improvements across the service by implementing national minimum standards of service for all aspects of contact with the police, including how they handle calls and feed back to victims witnesses, and providing better support, proper feedback, information and advice to victims of crime and their families through the Victims' Code. We are also committed to ensuring Neighbourhood Policing teams are in place across England and Wales by 2008, providing dedicated, visible, and local police teams which are able to respond to communities' specific needs."
HM Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Ronnie Flanagan said:
"I am delighted that HMIC's judgements and assessments have been combined with the Government's performance indicators to produce a more rounded, comprehensive picture of performance.
"Over the past year I have seen commendable dedication and commitment at all levels of the police service. These reports show that police, with their partners, have succeeded in reducing crime and increasing public reassurance. While the service can thus be proud of the progress made during the past year, many challenges lie ahead - in some cases at individual force level and in other at a service wide and structural level. I am confident that the service is well equipped and ready to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
"It is clear there is no room for complacency. The reports also for example highlight a need for improvement in the way that calls from the public are dealt with and in how the police service address the issues of race and diversity. Action is already in hand which I am confident will lead to improvement in these areas."
Sir Ronnie went on to stress that although the Police Performance Assessments are a significant step forward, they are still a 'work in progress' and that the Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Police Standards Unit would continue to work closely together to refine the process.
RESULTS FOR WEST MERCIA
West Mercia
Performance Area Delivery Direction Reducing Crime Good Improved Investigating Crime Excellent Improved Promoting Safety Good Stable Providing Assistance Good Stable Citizen Focus Good Improved Resource Use Excellent Improved Local Policing Good Improved
Notes to editors
1. Police Performance Assessments 2004/05 are available on the Home Office website at http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/performance-and-measurement/performance-assessment/assessments-2004-2005/
2. Assessments are made in seven key areas, as set out in the National Policing Plan 2004-2007:
- Reducing Crime: - Investigating Crime: - Promoting Safety: - Providing Assistance: - Citizen Focus: - Resource Use: - Local Policing.
Forces are judged firstly against their peers using the clear judgements 'excellent', 'good', 'fair' and 'poor'. A second judgement is made against their previous year's performance using the terms 'improved', 'stable' and 'deteriorated'.
FACT SHEET: Police Performance Assessments 2004-05
Background to the Performance Assessments Improved police performance is central to the Government's vision of better public services. The Home Office with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, is producing an annual summary containing assessments of performance for each of the 43 English and Welsh police forces. This information is available to the public via a printed publication and on the Home Office website.
The Home Office, with the support of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Association of Police Authorities (APA) has developed the Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF). PPAF has helped bring the police service into line with other public services in terms of the extent, robustness and transparency of the framework used to assess its performance. PPAF is about "policing" as a whole and is designed to reflect the breadth of modern policing. It is also about the contribution of local communities and other organisations, as well as the police service itself.
PPAF measures operational effectiveness, satisfaction plus overall trust and confidence in the police, and performance in terms of organisational capability. Performance indicators for all of these areas allow data to be collected to use in the assessments of performance. And in line with the Government's desire to enhance policing accountability at a local level, performance against local, as well as national, priorities are also measured.
In addition to performance indicators, PPAF incorporates assessments made by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). It has been publishing its own police assessments of the 43 English and Welsh forces since 1995 . 2005 sees the amalgamation of both the Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) and the HMIC Baseline Assessments. What this means is that the Police Performance Assessments 2004/05 will contain both sets of police assessment data; the HMIC Baseline Assessments adding qualitative and professional judgement to the assessments.
The combined report will not only give the public and key stakeholders an overview of policing performance across all 43 English and Welsh forces, it will also help demonstrate success against the five key priorities of the National Policing Plan for 2004-07: providing a citizen focused service to the public; tackling anti-social behaviour and disorder; continuing to reduce crime in line with the Government's Public Service Agreements targets; combating serious and organised crime; and narrowing the justice gap.
Reading the Reports Each force has a separate report page. The information in the reports is based on data submitted by each police force (to either the Home Office or HMIC, as necessary), which is aggregated into the assessments of performance by the Home Office Police Standards Unit.
On each report page there is a map of the UK showing the 43 police forces of England and Wales. The force is highlighted, along with its peers. This means that for each force a list of other forces that are the most similar to it has been identified. Decisions on which forces are the most similar to each other are made using a range of geographic, demographic, and socio-economic information. As a result, there are 43 'most similar groups': one for each force i.e. each force has its own unique list of peers. We believe this is a more appropriate and useful way of measuring, comparing and assessing performance. The Home Office website shows the performance of each force in comparison to its peers.
The page then shows the seven performance areas against which the force is assessed; Reducing Crime, Investigating Crime, Promoting Safety, Providing Assistance, Citizen Focus, Resource Use and Local Policing. Forces are graded Excellent, Good, Fair or Poor for their current delivery, typically by comparing against their peers, and Improved, Stable or Deteriorated for how they have performed in comparison to themselves in the past.
Each force page also includes data and facts about the force and a short written summary of their performance.
The website contains further detailed information, including all data about how the gradings have been calculated, as well as the assessments for each force. The website address is http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/performance-and-measurement/performance-assessment/assessments-2004-2005/.
Frequently Asked Questions are attached.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What are Police Performance Assessments? Police Performance Assessments are intended to measure, compare and assess the performance of police forces in England and Wales in an effective, fair and transparent way. They have been developed by the Home Office with support from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), Association of Police Authorities (APA) and Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
Why are they needed? Public services should meet the needs of users. The assessments reflect this aim by focusing on the 'end results' delivered by police forces (with partners) so that:
* local people and communities have information on which to help judge policing; * police forces can manage and improve their own performance; * police authorities can monitor local delivery and improvement; * good practice can be identified and shared; * problems can be addressed.
How should assessments be interpreted? A force will receive a pair of grades in each of the seven performance areas. For example, Investigating Crime might be graded as 'good / stable'. This means that, overall, the force is better than its peers at Investigating Crime (good) and that its performance is much the same as the previous year (stable).
The seven pairs of headline grades are aggregates of other grades. As such, a force with an excellent grade may have some areas of relative weakness and a force with a poor grade may have areas of relative strength. Finally, assessments cover the period 1 April 2004 - 31 March 2005 so do not necessarily indicate current performance since this can change over time.
How will the assessments improve policing? Performance assessments can be used locally and nationally to identify good practice and address areas of weakness. This can help to:
* reduce crime and disorder; * improve crime investigation; * bring more offenders brought to justice; * promote community confidence and engagement; * reduce fear of crime; and * improve value-for-money.
Assessments will also be used by the Home Office and others, for example, to help decide if forces need additional support or whether or not to relax inspection protocols in the light of good performance.
Is there an overall assessment of performance for a force? No. This is the first time performance assessments have been made this way and there is a need to learn lessons before considering if and how to aggregate a large number of component grades into a single grade.
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