CJS working together for the public

Quarterly performance figures for the Criminal Justice System published

08 June 2009

The figures, for the quarter to December 2008 and covering England and Wales, show:

• The budgeted spend on bringing offences to justice is projected to fall by approximately 3.2% in real terms over the period 2008-11 as increased efficiency in the criminal justice system, coupled with improvements in bringing offences to justice, provide greater value for money for the taxpayer. The budgeted spend in 2008/09 is £7.47bn compared to the baseline of £7.55bn in 2007/08.
• The effectiveness of the CJS in bringing serious sexual and serious acquisitive offences to justice has increased in the year to December 2008.
  • The number of serious sexual offences brought to justice has risen 6% since 2007/08, while the number of these recorded crimes has fallen by 1% over the same period.
  • The number of serious acquisitive offences brought to justice has fallen 3% since 2007/08, while the number of these recorded crimes has fallen by a greater amount (4%) over the same period.
  • The number of serious violent offences brought to justice remains stable, but data on the number of recorded serious violent crime are not currently available.
• Public confidence that the criminal justice system is fair was at 58% for the nine months to December 2008, which is a statistically significant increase on the baseline of 56% for the six months ending March 2008. Public confidence that the CJS is effective was at 38% for the nine months to December 2008, which is stable in comparison to the baseline of 37% for the six months ending March 2008.
• Witness and victim satisfaction with the criminal justice system, measured by the Witness and Victim Experience Survey (WAVES), has been established at 82% of victims and witnesses satisfied with their treatment with the CJS (cases closed six months to September 2008). This is stable against the baseline of 81% (cases closed six months to March 2008).
• Victim satisfaction with the police was 82.6% for the year ending December 2008. The baseline for the year to March 2008 was 81.1%. The figures are not directly comparable as there is a three month overlap between the data periods. Next quarter there will be a full year of performance data which can be compared against the baseline year.
• The Minimum Data Set (which enables consistent and robust collection and analysis of race data across the criminal justice system in order to identify and, where necessary, address race disproportionality) was being used by 12 Local Criminal Justice Boards in the period October-December 2008 against the target of 14; by March 2010 it will be ahead of trajectory in terms of the number of Local Criminal Justice Boards using the Minimum Data Set.
• The value of assets recovered across England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the period April to December 2008 was £105.7 million. This incorporates confiscation, cash forfeitures, civil recovery and receipts from international recovery orders, of which confiscation orders account for around 60%. It does not include the compensation element of confiscation orders.
• The amount of confiscation order monies, including compensation, collected across England and Wales for the period April to December 2008 was £67.0 million, which is 68% of the financial year to date target trajectory.
• New confiscation and restraint orders have been obtained such that:
  • There were 3,593 confiscation orders obtained for the period April to December 2008, which is 108% of the financial year to date target trajectory.
  • The value of the confiscation orders obtained was £88.9 million, which is 109% of the financial year to date target trajectory.
  • There were 1,091 restraint orders April to December 2008, which is 188% of the financial year to date target trajectory.
• The total value of fines collected as a percentage of the value of fines imposed (excluding confiscation orders) across Local Criminal Justice Board areas was 85% for the financial year to date (April to December 2008). This is achieving the 2008/09 target of 85%.
• The number of outstanding Failure To Appear (FTA) warrants has decreased from 25,039 at end of March 2008 to 24,613 at end of December 2008. The target is 24,457 or lower by the end of March 2009. The stock/flow ratio, calculated as the number of warrants outstanding at the end of the month divided by the average number of warrants received during the last three months, is 2.6. The target is a stock flow of 2.0 or lower by 31 March 2009.
• The proportion of Failure To Appear warrants executed in a timely manner, between October and December 2008, for Category A warrants was 65% within 14 working days, for Category B warrants was 68% within 21 working days and for Category C warrants was 62% within 28 working days, against targets of 73%, 73% and 64% respectively.
• The percentage of community penalty breaches resolved within 25 working days for the period October to December 2008 was 63%, which is above the target level of 60%.