Search results for 'Crime, justice and law'

Showing 141 - 160 of 218 results

  1. Meeting needs? The Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service

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    Many of the long standing problems in providing offenders with effective and useful learning and skills training have yet to be overcome following the establishment of the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS). Offenders who find employment upon their release are less likely to reoffend, which is why improving their training and skills could contribute […]

  2. The National Probation Service: the supervision of community orders in England and Wales

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    The National Audit Office reported today that the effective delivery of community order sentences could be improved to secure the full benefits of the scheme by the National Probation Service. Not all components of community orders are used in all probation areas. In addition, there is incomplete data on the cost of orders and the […]

  3. The Procurement of Criminal Legal Aid in England and Wales by the Legal Services Commission

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    The National Audit Office has today reported to Parliament that there are risks to value for money from the way the Legal Services Commission (the LSC) administers and procures legal aid for criminal cases. In 2008-09, the Commission spent more than £1.1 billion on criminal legal aid – legal assistance for people suspected of or […]

  4. The Assets Recovery Agency

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    The Assets Recovery Agency was set up without a feasibility study and has failed to achieve its targets for the recovery of criminal assets and for becoming self financing by 2005-06. To date the Agency has spent £65 million and recovered assets worth £23 million. Although the Agency now expects to become self-financing by 2009-10, […]

  5. Legal aid and mediation for people involved in family breakdown

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    Too many family breakdown cases are going to court rather than being settled through mediation, the National Audit Office has today reported. Family breakdown cases which are resolved through professional mediation are cheaper and quicker to settle. And academic research shows that they secure better outcomes, particularly for children, as they are less acrimonious. However, […]

  6. Department for Constitutional Affairs: Fines Collection

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    Fines are the most common sentence imposed by magistrates’ courts but many offenders are still either unwilling or unable to pay, with the result that Her Majesty’s Courts Service has to take enforcement action against most offenders. Too many offenders leave court without paying their fines in full and too many court hearings are wasted […]

  7. The National Law Enforcement Data Programme

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    This report assesses the Home Office’s progress in delivering the National Law Enforcement Data Service programme to replace outdated police ICT systems.

  8. Home Office Resource Accounts 2005-06

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    Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, has today reported to Parliament that he is qualifying the Home Office 2005-06 Resource Accounts because Accounting Standards require these accounts to include the 2004-05 results. But for this, and the qualification relating to its accruals at 31 March 2006, and the corresponding expenditure, he would […]

  9. The Home Office: Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour

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    The majority of people who received an anti-social behaviour intervention, in a sample of cases examined by the National Audit Office, did not re-engage in anti-social behaviour. But, for a number of perpetrators interventions had limited impact. Seventeen per cent of the population perceive high levels of anti-social behaviour in their area and the cost […]

  10. National Offender Management Service: Dealing with increased numbers in custody

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    The Home Office’s National Offender Management Service should improve its contingency arrangements in case the number of prisoners in custody continues to rise. There were 77,300 prisoners in England and Wales in September 2005 – the highest prisoner population ever recorded – and over the last ten years numbers have risen by over 25,000. Despite […]

  11. Crown Prosecution Service: Effective use of Magistrates’ Court Hearings

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    £173 million was spent last year on trials and hearings in magistrates’ courts that did not go ahead as planned. Of this, nearly £24 million was due to the Crown Prosecution Service. The National Audit Office calculate that 28 per cent (784,000 annually) of all pre-trial hearings in magistrates’ courts do not proceed on the […]

  12. The Electronic Monitoring of Adult Offenders

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    According to the National Audit Office, electronic monitoring of adult offenders provides value for money and a cost effective alternative to custody for low risk offenders. Three months of an electronically monitored curfew are nearly five times cheaper than three months in custody. On average, it costs £1,300 to monitor an offender who has been […]

  13. Home Office Resource Account 2004-2005

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    Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that the Home Office had not maintained proper financial books and records for the financial year ending 31 March 2005. Sir John therefore concluded that, because the Home Office failed to deliver its accounts for audit by the statutory timetable and because […]

  14. The National Offender Management Information System

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    An initiative, begun in 2004, by the National Offender Management Service to build a single offender management IT system for the prison and probation services has not delivered value for money. A National Audit Office investigation found the project had been hampered by poor management leading to a three-year delay, a doubling in project costs […]

  15. Serving Time: Prisoner Diet and Exercise

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    Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported today that significant improvements have been made in HM Prison Service’s catering arrangements resulting in financial savings and improved quality of service. Since 2003-04, savings of some £2.5 million have been made each year from expenditure on food and some £1.7 million a year on […]