UK Justice Policy Review

Home , David Gauke, Justice minister, Priti Patel, Richard Heaton, Robert Buckland, Rory Stewart

Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019

by Richard Garside, Roger Grimshaw, Matt Ford, Neala Hickey and Helen Mills UK Justice Policy Review Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019

by Richard Garside, Roger Grimshaw, Matt Ford, Neala Hickey and Helen Mills

About the authors

Richard Garside is Director, Roger Grimshaw is Research Director, Matt Ford is Research Associate, Neala Hickey is Projects and Communications Assistant and Helen Mills is Head of Programmes, all at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

Acknowledgements

Without the generous support of The Hadley Trust this publication would not have been possible. We thank them for their support for this series. Thank you to Tammy McGloughlin for her production work and to Steve Swingler our designer.

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Centre for Crime and Justice Studies 2 Langley Lane Vauxhall London SW8 1GB [email protected] www.crimeandjustice.org.uk

©Centre for Crime and Justice Studies June 2020 ISBN: 978-1-906003-76-0

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 2 Contents

Summary 4

Introduction 6

Speeches 8

Legislation 12

Police 14

Data dashboard 20

Courts 22

Prisons 26

Probation 32

Coming up 36

Technical appendix 38

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 3 Summary

Introduction

Tackling various crises with serious violence, • More role changes in top positions prison conditions, police resources and, in • Planning for prison growth England and Wales, the probation service were • Arguments over police funding and police key challenges during this period. structures. • The Conservative party’s repositioning over the police.

Speeches

Justice Minister, David Gauke, set out his • Short sentencing reform in England and Wales vision for a smarter justice system, focusing • Expansion of electronic monitoring and on sentencing reform whilst successive Home treatments attached to community orders Secretaries gave reassurances to the police • Repairing the relationship between the Home over resources and recruitment. In Scotland, Office and police the reform agenda focused on victim support. • Victims’ rights in sharper focus in Scotland

Legislation

Whilst two pieces of legislation were passed • Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) in Scotland to support vulnerable witnesses, (Scotland) Bill violence against women and sentencing • Domestic abuse, stalking protection, voyeurism reform were on the UK legislative agenda with • Sentencing reform on the table varying success. • Summary of all the key legislation

Police

Resources, funding and force structure • Challenges to police leadership abilities continued to occupy the government’s agenda • Close scrutiny of Scottish police’s complaints as the Home Affairs Committee pressed for system fundamental changes to policing. Marie • Increases in recorded hate crime Anderson was appointed Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland and a preliminary report on • Tackling serious violence a priority police complaints was released in Scotland. • Vulnerability in focus

Data dashboard

An at-a-glance overview of the key UK criminal justice data and trends of the past five years.

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 4 Courts

Access to justice hampered in a continued • Continued conflict over legal aid cuts drive to save, through court closures in • Bereaved families and inquests England and Wales. Regulatory system • Wide ranging reviews of criminal justice changes in Scottish legal services and review of Northern Ireland’s mental health support in • Systemic failures in disclosure practices criminal justice. • Court reforms run into difficulties

Prisons

Concerns raised over the state of Scotland’s • Chief Inspector, Peter Clarke on the spiralling prisons whilst the prisons crisis in England prisons crisis and Wales continued. While the prison population • Scotland’s mixed messaged on prison in England and Wales, and Scotland remained population reduction stable, in Northern Ireland the population fell. • 10,000 new prison spaces for England and Wales • Dramatic population change in Northern Ireland’s prison population • Funding constraints, lofty ambitions and sustainability in question

Probation

Old probation arrangements replaced by new • ‘Transforming Justice’ programme deemed ways of working, after findings of failure and ‘irredeemably flawed’ waste in England and Wales. • Dame Glenys Stacey’s four probation design principles • Calls for full legislative devolution of criminal justice to Wales

Coming up

Spending commitments in criminal justice • More changes at the top with a Johnson became key political currency during the government December 2019 General Election. The new • Cross-party support for strengthening National Johnson government, committed to ‘getting Crime Agency Brexit done’, announced its intention to seek a • Pledge of 20,000 more police by 2020 close and cooperative relationship with the EU on criminal justice issues. • Plans for 10,000 new prison places by mid-2020s

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 5 Introduction

This edition of UK Justice Policy Review (UKJPR) Legislation picks up developments from Boris Johnson’s Parliamentary activity during this period was inauguration as Prime Minister on 24 July dominated by Brexit, leaving little room for 2018. The Review finishes at the dissolution of legislative action/movement. As far as a legislative Parliament on 6 November 2019 in preparation agenda could be discerned, preventing violence for the General Election on 12 December. against women was a prominent theme. Key pieces of legislation that managed to reach the law books included the Stalking Protection Bill and Who was who in the period under review the Voyeurism (offences) (No. 2) Bill. The Domestic On his first day as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson Abuse Bill, however, fell victim to Boris Johnson’s clamour to ‘get Brexit done’ by any means installed Robert Buckland as Secretary of State necessary, first by his ill-fated attempt to prorogue for Justice and Lord Chancellor, replacing David Parliament, then by his successful bid for an early Gauke. Gauke had resigned as a Conservative General Election. The Scottish parliament, less Minister after declaring that he could not serve in impacted by Brexit preparations, passed the Age a Johnson-led government, and later had the whip of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act and the withdrawn after rebelling against the government Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) in a parliamentary vote. Buckland was promoted Act. following a short stint as Prisons Minister, taking Speeches over from Rory Stewart in May 2019. Sajid Javid Speeches by Theresa May’s most recent was promoted from Home Secretary to Chancellor successors at the Home Office, Sajid Javid of the Exchequer, and replaced by Priti Patel. and Priti Patel, indicated that the potentially In Scotland, Humza Yousaf took over from progressive elements of her policing agenda were Michael Matheson as Cabinet Secretary for being incrementally unpicked. First, Sajid Javid Justice in June 2018, just before the start of the reiterated that he would support police officers’ review period. The power-sharing arrangement in use of stop and search and their calls for more Northern Ireland remained collapsed, breaking resources. Second, Priti Patel repeated Johnson’s the world record for longest period spent without promise to restore police officer numbers to pre-austerity levels, amounting to 20,000 more a sitting government. officers than currently employed by police forces.

Overview of developments Meanwhile, Justice Secretary David Gauke made speeches outlining the development of plans to The period under review saw the criminal reduce pressures on the prison service, including justice system in England and Wales creaking stemming the flow in by minimising the use of under the weight of nine years of government short-term sentences. The plans did not survive policy. Scotland was more sedate, with efforts his political demise. to overcome some of the scandals surrounding Improving the experience of victims in the criminal the new single police force. There were signs of a justice system would be central to developments potential crisis in Scottish prisons on the horizon. in Scotland, according to First Minister Nicola There was minimal activity in Northern Ireland Sturgeon’s Programme for Government speech in due to the government shutdown. September 2018.

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 6 Courts Committee lambasted the government’s strategy Reports by the National Audit Office and Public on knife violence. Accounts Committee, criticising the impact an Prisons ambitious programme of court closures had on The governments of both England and Wales access to justice and costs in other parts of the and Scotland revealed that, in the space of just system, forced the government to issue new a few years, they had shifted from aiming to halt principles to guide future closures. or manage down prison populations to planning The legal profession managed to win several for a long-term expansion in prison capacity. In battles in the review period, halting some of the England and Wales, the programme of like-for- cuts to legal aid spending. A review found that like replacement of a number of Victorian-era although reforms had cut the cost of legal aid, it prisons with new ones was cancelled. Instead, was unclear whether they had achieved greater Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised 10,000 value for money. In Scotland, a three per cent additional prison places, and Justice Secretary rise in legal aid fees was announced following an Robert Buckland told the House of Commons independent review. Justice Committee about plans to increase capacity by 13,600 places by the mid-2020s. Police Similarly, in Scotland, plans to close down prisons Both the House of Commons Home Affairs also included replacing them with new ones with Committee and the National Audit Office made significantly more capacity. The Justice Committee strong criticisms of the Home Office’s leadership questioned whether the £2.5 billion earmarked for regarding the police, as well as the inadequacy of prison expansion in England and Wales might be the police funding formula in the review period. better spent addressing the maintenance backlog. This represented the reality of nearly a decade of police spending cuts, combined with poor Against this backdrop, the Prisons Inspector for understanding of demand and the complexity of England and Wales continued what has become a emerging harms coming to a head. tradition of highlighting the desperate conditions inside prisons. The European Committee for the Scotland saw attempts to move beyond the Prevention of Torture made shocking observations scandals that had dogged the single force and its about the treatment of some prisoners in Scottish accountability body, the Scottish Police Authority, prisons, and the Inspectorate warned of trouble with the publication of a review into complaints ahead from a rising prison population with complex about the police and changes to the leadership of needs and an overstretched workforce. both organisations. Probation Knife crime continued to be a pertinent issue The government’s beleaguered probation reforms influencing developments in England and Wales, were finally scrapped in 2019. After another set with levels reaching the highest since records of damning reports about the Transforming began. One of the responses by Home Secretary Rehabilitation programme from the Inspectorate, Sajid Javid was to begin consulting on, then the National Audit Office and the House of committing to legislate for, the imposition of a Commons Public Accounts Committee, David public health duty on health, local authority, police Gauke announced a new model for probation. and other services to prevent serious violence. Critics argued however that it looked like it would But soon after, a report by the Home Affairs repeat the fragmentation of the current system.

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 7 Speeches

This section begins by taking a look at two said, ‘to abolish sentences of six months or less major speeches on criminal justice reform by altogether, with some closely defined exceptions, David Gauke, Justice Secretary for England and and put in their place, a robust community order Wales. The speeches bookend the development regime’. of plans to reform short prison sentences, The Justice Secretary set out the case for abolition, which were discarded by the incoming Johnson the core tenet of which was their apparent inability administration. The main themes of Nicola to curb further offending: ‘nearly two thirds of Sturgeon’s Programme for Government, which those offenders [given short prison sentences] in 2018-2019 were focused around victims’ go on to commit a further crime within a year of policy, are then outlined. Two signal speeches by being released’. Gauke emphasised that short- Sajid Javid which reiterate his support for stop term prisoners tend to be in custody for less and search and providing the police with more serious crimes, with the most common being resources, indicating a change in direction from shoplifting. Disruption to already chaotic lives, the Home Office, are then explored, along with including loss of access to benefits, employment, Priti Patel’s first speech as Home Secretary in accommodation and drug and alcohol support September 2019. services, were said to be key factors undermining the effectiveness of short prison sentences, as Beyond prison was separation from families, particularly for women prisoners with dependent children. Gauke In his speech ‘Beyond prison, redefining emphasised the disruptive impact of short term punishment’ delivered at the think tank Reform sentences on the lives of women – who often have in February 2019, David Gauke sought to reframe dependents – and their families. He called for the the criteria used to assess criminal justice reforms criminal justice system to take into account the from what he saw as ‘a false choice between the case that many are victims as well as offenders narrow and often polarising discussion about and this should be reflected in sentencing “soft” justice versus “hard” justice’ to one practices. The inability to carry out meaningful focused on effectiveness. ‘We should’, he said, rehabilitative work with short term prisoners in ‘be talking about “smart” justice. Justice that custody was also offered as a reason reconviction works’. The question of what smart justice might rates were so high for this group. Community look like was prefaced by three practical questions orders, Gauke said, were more effective at as to the efficacy of the current system. Do reducing reoffending as they ‘are much better at current sentencing arrangements actually reduce tackling the root causes behind criminality’. crime? Can we truly call prisons rehabilitative Despite his rejection of the ‘soft’ versus ‘hard’ environments? Should we think about alternatives justice binary, Gauke was eager to reassure to punishment and rehabilitation? Following in cynics that community orders would be more the footsteps of his counterparts in Scotland (see punitive: UKJPRs 6-8), Gauke took aim at short prison sentences. ‘There is a very strong case’, he Now, I do not want community orders which

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 8 are in any sense a ‘soft option’. I want a Despite opening his speech by describing England regime that can impose greater restrictions on and Wales as an outlier in Western Europe due to people’s movements and lifestyle and stricter its high incarceration rate, the Justice Secretary’s requirements in terms of accessing treatment speech did not include an explicit reference to and support. And critically, these sentences must reducing the overall prison population. Indeed, he be enforced. admitted that this was not one of the aims in oral New technology in the form of GPS electronic answers to questions in the House of Commons tags and alcohol sobriety tags was the method in June 2019: by which this increased punitiveness would the principal purpose is not reducing the prison be delivered. Mental health, drug and alcohol population… Reducing reoffending… is the big treatment requirements attached to community prize rather than what are likely to be relatively orders would be expanded too, already evidenced marginal changes to the prison population. by collaborative work between the Ministry of Justice, Department of Health and Social Care, By summer 2019 the Ministry of Justice had NHS England and Public Health England on the planned to publish a green paper containing Treatment Requirement Programme. a set of proposals to reduce the use of short- term custody. Due out a week before the result It seemed Gauke could only hope that a shift of the Conservative Party leadership election from short-term imprisonment to community was to be announced, its release was put on sentences would be matched by resources, ‘in hold. Gauke resigned on 23 July 2019, after thinking strategically about the future of our promising to do so should Boris Johnson win justice system I believe in the end there is a strong the leadership election. In his final speech on case for switching resource away from ineffective 18 July, he fleshed out some of the details of the prison sentences and into probation’. reform of short-term prison sentences following Reflecting ongoing concerns about the the development of the thinking behind the policy degradation of prison conditions (see previous since his speech to Reform. He outlined two UKJPRs), a key benefit of reducing the use of possible sentencing options. A bar would prohibit short-term prison sentences would be a reduction sentencers from handing down short sentences of churn in the prison population and a freeing up at all. A presumption against meant sentencers staff time: would retain the right to hand them down in The reception of a new offender into custody some cases. Gauke also floated the possibility – that first night inside – is one of the most of a combination of a presumption and a bar. resource heavy moments in an offender’s journey Some indication of the exemptions to a bar were through the system… By abolishing these specified. Cases of physical or sexual assault, sentences we’d expect also to reduce the number some specific offences where public protection of receptions carried out. Just think how much is a major concern such as knife possession, better we could use the prison officers’ time and contempt of court orders or of the authority of resources. the court, and cases where convicted law-breakers

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 9 Speeches

repeatedly and consciously defy community been appointed justice secretary in June 2018, orders could all be excluded from a bar. He ended announced in his speech to the Scottish National with a plea to the next administration: Party (SNP) conference in October 2018, that this ‘victims package’ would be delivered via a victims I believe this is a balanced, considered and, task force, chaired by himself. Sturgeon reiterated crucially, evidence-based approach to sentencing her government’s intention to extend the length of policy. It will help reduce crime and result, custodial sentence the presumption against which therefore, in fewer victims of crime. And I short-term prison sentences would apply to. would hope that the next Prime Minister would Scotland introduced a presumption against prison continue with this reform agenda. sentences of less than three months in 2011. This was now to be raised to a presumption against Victims dominate agenda in Scotland sentences of up to 12 months, a change which came into force in June 2019. A consultation In her annual Programme for Government on hate crime law would begin in 2018-2019. address on 4 September 2018, Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf announced in his speech to the First Minister of Scotland, made clear that SNP conference that this would include specific improving the experience of victims would be questions about whether misogynistic harassment prioritised in her administration’s criminal justice should be incorporated into the legislation. reforms in 2018-2019, with a particular focus on victims of sexual violence. Amongst the reforms announced, improving support services featured Punitive turn in policing heavily, with a new service to help families In his first speech as Home Secretary in May affected by culpable homicide. £2 million worth 2018, Sajid Javid stated his intention to ‘reset of funding over three years to speed up access the relationship between the government and to support for rape and sexual assault victims the police’ (see UKJPR 8). Relations between was also announced, along with a consultation the government and police under his two on ensuring rape and sexual assault victims have predecessors, Amber Rudd and Theresa May, access to forensic medical examinations and had been marked by conflict over pay, pensions, healthcare more generally. Victims’ rights were to budgets and direct entry (see UKJPR 7). Resetting be extended through a consultation on widening the relationship included a willingness to the number of serious offences where victims are answer ongoing calls from the police for more allowed to make impact statements, as well as resources, and an end to attempts to curb the greater transparency around prisoner release. use of controversial stop and search powers. On Domestic abuse reduction and victim support funding, the Home Secretary had only promised services also featured significantly in the to ‘prioritise police funding in the spending review Scottish Government’s criminal justice activity next year’ in his May 2018 speech. Six months on, in 2018-2019, with the programme including the during a speech to the Police Superintendents’ implementation of a law banning coercive and Association in September 2018, he highlighted controlling behaviour, introduced in England and £21 million in new funding to tackle online child Wales in 2015, and a consultation on new court sexual exploitation, announced the week before. orders banning domestic abuse perpetrators A month later, in a speech to a joint summit of from victims’ homes. Humza Yousaf, who had the Association of Police Chief Constables and

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 10 National Police and Crime Commissioners, he replaced in the Home Office by Priti Patel. In added £160 million extra to protect counter- her first keynote in September, she completed the terrorism officer numbers in 2019-20, a funding journey begun by Javid, ‘You told us you needed commitment announced by the Chancellor in his more bobbies on the beat’, she told the Police Superintendents’ Association, ‘so one of our very budget speech a few days before. first acts was to pledge 20,000 more officers… You Following Boris Johnson’s appointment as Prime told us that stop and search helps tackle violent Minister, Javid moved onto the Treasury, to be crime, so we’re empowering you to do more.’

Key speeches

3 September 2018 Tackling online child sexual Sajid Javid, Home Secretary exploitation

4 September 2018 Programme for Government Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland

11 September 2018 Police Superintendents’ Association Sajid Javid, Home Secretary Annual Conference

7 October 2018 SNP conference Humza Yousaf, Scottish Justice Secretary

Association of Police and Crime 31 October 2018 Commissioners and National Police Sajid Javid, Home Secretary Chiefs’ Council joint summit

3 December 2018 Digital court reform David Gauke, Justice Secretary

23 January 2018 Women’s Aid Public Policy David Gauke, Justice Secretary Conference

18 February 2018 Beyond prison, redefining David Gauke, Justice Secretary punishment

15 April 2019 Protecting young people’s futures Sajid Javid, Home Secretary

11 June 2019 Prison reform Robert Buckland, Prisons Minister

25 June 2019 NSPCC’s How Safe are our Sajid Javid, Home Secretary Children? Conference

18 July 2019 Smarter sentences, safer streets David Gauke, Justice Secretary

9 September 2019 Police Superintendents’ Association Priti Patel, Home Secretary

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 11 Legislation

The legislative process in England and Wales was by the police to a Magistrates’ Court. Breach of frustrated during this period by political turmoil, an order is a criminal offence, subject to a fine including Brexit, the attempted prorogation of and/or a term of imprisonment of up to five parliament and the dissolution of parliament years. In contrast to the relatively low-key Stalking preceding the General Election in December 2019. Protection Bill, the Voyeurism (Offences) Bill attracted widespread media attention and political In contrast to the stuttering legislative timetable in support for its provision to outlaw so-called England and Wales, three key pieces of legislation ‘upskirting’. Commencing as a Private Members’ were passed in Scotland. Bill and gaining cross-party backing, the Bill became law in February 2019. Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Meanwhile, the arguably more substantial Evidence) (Scotland) Bill Domestic Abuse Bill, offering a statutory definition The two most symbolically significant pieces of domestic abuse to include non-physical, of legislation went through the Scottish emotional and economic abuse, faced more parliament during this parliament. The Age of difficulties progressing. The Bill, which fell Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act raised the after parliament was wrongly prorogued in age at which children could be held criminally September 2019, was picked up again when responsible for their actions from eight to 12 parliament returned following the Supreme Court (see UKJPR 8). Passed simultaneously, with judgment, only to fall again with the dissolution of importance for how children are supported in the parliament in November 2019. criminal justice system, the Vulnerable Witnesses Although the Bill was described by Theresa May as (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act made provisions a ‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity, campaigners for child witnesses in criminal trials for more voiced concerns about various aspects of its serious offences to give pre-recorded evidence in provisions. Anna East, writing for the Centre for advance of the trial. Women’s Justice, called for the Bill to recognise explicitly the needs and vulnerabilities of migrant Domestic abuse, stalking protection, and homeless women, often without the recourse voyeurism to state or financial support to leave abusive relationships. Three pieces of legislation worked their way Further criticism came from a range of figures through the UK parliament related to violence including the Chair of the Home Affairs against women. The Domestic Abuse Bill, Stalking Committee, Yvette Cooper and Women’s Protection Bill and Voyeurism (Offences) (No.2) Bill. Aid, calling for the Bill to recognise the The second two both gained Royal Assent during gendered dimension of violence, given that this period. The more significant and potentially victims of domestic and sexual violence are far-reaching Domestic Abuse Bill failed to progress disproportionately women. Such criticism before parliament was dissolved for the December came at a time when it was revealed that rape 2019 General Election. prosecutions in England and Wales are at their The Stalking Protection Act created a new civil lowest in the last decade, despite reports being up stalking protection order, available on application by 173 per cent between 2014 and 2018.

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 12 Sentencing materialised in the Sentencing (Pre-consolidation Amendments) Bill introduced in May. Sentencing reform was placed firmly on the agenda in 2019 by the then Justice Secretary David The Law Commission’s report, Sentencing Code, Gauke (see Speeches), whose proposals, to be provided the groundwork for the Bill, with the aim set forth in a planned Green Paper, never actually of minimising unlawful sentencing, inefficient materialised. Reform of short sentences may have practices and to ensure the law was accessible fallen by the wayside but procedural sentencing by consolidating existing legislation into a single reform proposed by the Law Commission ‘Sentencing Code’.

Legislation

Legislation Date Status on 6 November 2019 UK Parliament introduced Age of Criminal Responsibility Bill 26 Jun 17 Failed to complete passage Age of Criminal Responsibility Bill 23 Oct 19 In progress Anonymity (Arrested Persons) Bill 4 Jul 17 Failed to complete passage Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 19 Jul 17 Royal Assent (13 Sep 18) Criminal Fraud (Private Prosecutions) Bill 5 Sep 17 Failed to complete passage Criminal Records Bill 22 Oct 19 In progress Domestic Abuse Bill 16 Jul 19 In progress Type of Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Bill 16 Oct 19 Royal Assent (5 Nov 19) legislation Illegal immigration (Offences) Bill 5 Sep 17 Dropped by sponsor Private Members’ Offensive Weapons Act 20-Jun-18 Royal Assent (16 May 19) Government Policing Resources Bill 29 Oct 19 In progress Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Act 19 Jul 17 Royal Assent (20 Dec 18) Sentencing (Pre-consolidation Amendments) Bill 22 May 19 In progress Stalking Protection Act 19 Jul 17 Royal Assent (15 Mar 19) Victims of Crime (Rights, Entitlements and Notification of Child 6 Jul 17 Failed to complete passage Sexual Abuse) Bill Violent Crime (Sentences) Bill 7 Jun 18 Failed to complete passage Voyeurism (Offences) Act 21 Jun 18 Royal Assent (12 Feb 19)

Scottish Parliament

Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Bill 13 Mar 18 Royal Assent (11 Jun 19) Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 22 Feb 18 Royal Assent (30 Jul 19) Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act 12 Jun 18 Royal Assent (13 Jun 19)

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 13 Police Key reports Financial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales 2018 National Audit Office £ 11 September 2018 Criticised the government’s lack ‘A complete failure of leadership’ of strategy and Identified wide differences in forces’ dependence on The report Policing for the Future published by the central government grants. House of Commons Home Affairs Committee in October 2018 set forth a trenchant agenda for Policing for the Future policy discussion which echoed throughout the Home Affairs Committee remainder of the year under review. It called for a 22 October 2018 fundamental change in the police funding model Criticised ‘a complete failure of and highlighted gaps in effective responses to leadership’ by the Home Office emerging problems like online fraud, child sexual and demanded an immediate and fundamental review of policing. abuse and safeguarding vulnerable people. It criticised ‘a complete failure of leadership’ by the Keeping kids safe: Improving Home Office and demanded an immediate and safeguarding responses to gang fundamental review of policing, proposing new violence and criminal exploitation structures including a National Policing Assembly Anne Longfield, Children’s comprising all police and crime commissioners Commissioner for England (PCCs) and chief constables. Later, as the May 28 February 2019 government finally expired in mid-2019, the Criticised funding shortages, Committee repeated its critical stance. fragmentation between government departments, and insufficient services for families and children. Police spending

In September 2018, in the report Financial Independent Review of Complaints Handling, Investigations and sustainability of police forces in England and Wales Misconduct Issues in Relation to 2018, the National Audit Office (NAO) had Policing: preliminary report criticised the ‘light touch’ approach and lack of Dame Elish Angiolini strategic oversight from the Home Office. 21 June 2019 Noting an 18 per cent reduction in the total Recommended the setting up of workforce since 2010, the NAO made clear that a statutory Board in Scotland to scrutinise and support the work of the forces most dependent on central government the Police Investigations and Review funding had suffered the greatest reductions Commissioner, as well as streamlined in spending, whereas others had become more systems to inform the public about reliant on money from local funding sources: the complaints procedure. While no police force has failed financially, there are signs emerging that forces are finding it Serious youth violence Home Affairs Committee harder to deliver an effective service. 18 July 2019 The government’s funding formula for police Urged the Prime Minister to lead forces did not adequately take into account several action to address the problem, types of demand. including increased police numbers, early prevention and youth services, The authoritative analysis underpinned growing and more treatment for drug users. dissatisfaction with current spending policy, as

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 14 A funding patchwork

Out of the 43 England and Wales police forces these are the most and the least dependent on funding from central government

Central government funding

Local funding 19 Northumbria 81

Most dependent 31 Durham 33 69 67 Cleveland Least dependent

52 48 North Yorkshire

29 36 Total for all England West Yorkshire 64 and Wales forces 71 28 27 South Yorkshire 25 73 72 Merseyside 75 Greater 48 52 Lincolnshire Manchester 51 49 North Wales 20 48 52 Norfolk West Midlands 80

50 50 Dyfed-Powys 48 52 Warwickshire

50 50 Gloucestershire 30 Metropolitan Police 70

57 43 Surrey

Dorset 52 48

Source: Financial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales 2018, National Audit Office.

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 15 Police

Policing for the Future pointedly went on to state: Investigations and Misconduct Issues in Relation to Policing, her preliminary report on the system The current police funding model is not fit for of complaints against police in Scotland. She purpose: it is time to stop kicking the problem noted that there were four bodies with some into the long grass, and recognise the true cost of role in the system: Police Scotland; the Scottish policing. Police Authority (SPA); the Crown Office and In the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor of the Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS); and the Police Exchequer, Philip Hammond, declared that Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC). austerity ‘was coming to an end’ and allocated Her numerous recommendations included: extra funds for counter-terrorism policing. John the setting up of a statutory Board to scrutinise Apter of the Police Federation sarcastically and support the work of the PIRC; streamlined claimed that this money was less than half the systems to inform the public about the complaints funding due to be spent on repairing potholes. procedure; and the acceleration of plans to Further announcements of additional funding expand the use of body-worn video technology. came in December 2018 and March 2019. In May 2019, Karen Bradley the Secretary of State In July 2019, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, for Northern Ireland announced her intention to Sir Thomas Winsor, issued State of Policing: The recommend the appointment of Marie Anderson, Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales currently the Public Services Ombudsman, as the 2018. He stated that significant pressures on some new Police Ombudsman. police forces to meet growing complex demand had increased since inspections the previous year. Governance and reorganisation In this context the progress of the Policing Resources Bill offered some hope for change. It An emerging crisis of management and leadership proposed that a duty be placed on the Home began to take hold of Cleveland Police. Secretary to fund police forces adequately, and an The Chief Constable Mike Veale resigned in independent body be responsible for reviewing the January 2019 after an IOPC investigation of police grant annually. conduct relating to the investigation of allegations against former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath. Accountability and complaints His resignation followed two other departures since the dismissal of Sean Price in 2012. In 2018-2019, the Independent Office for Police Complaints (IOPC) completed its first full year Barry Coppinger, the Police and Crime of operation; there was a 17 per cent fall in Commissioner responsible for the appointment of police complaints, according to its Annual report Mike Veale, came under fire from Ben Houchen, and statement of accounts 2018/19. The IOPC the Mayor of Tees Valley, who called on him to commissioned research showing that people resign. Commenting on Mike Veale’s resignation, with mental health conditions were fearful of Jawad Iqbal, writing in The Times on 24 January, complaining about police. urged that local councillors should take back responsibility for police governance. In June 2019 Dame Elish Angiolini published the Independent Review of Complaints Handling, The culmination of the crisis was to take place

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 16 later in the Autumn when an assessment of In Northern Ireland, owing to the continuing Cleveland Police by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate suspension of the Stormont Assembly, of Constabulary, and Fire and Rescue Services regulations were issued by the Secretary of State judged the force inadequate and it was put into to enable the appointment of new members special measures. While the force had suffered to the Northern Ireland Policing Board: ten central government funding cuts since 2011, these with links to political parties, and three with no were close to the national average, according to declared political connections. the NAO report on financial sustainability.

Plans for PCCs to take over fire and rescue Vulnerability and hate services encountered resistance when three fire In October 2018, new figures showing an service authorities (Hereford and Worcester, increase in recorded hate crime were published Shropshire and Wrekin, and Cambridgeshire and and the government launched a campaign Peterborough) took their cases to judicial review, to increase understanding of what the term arguing that the Secretary of State had failed to meant. A Domestic Abuse Bill 2019 containing apply appropriate tests in making this decision, new proposals to establish greater clarity and but according to a court judgement issued in July protection for victims was published in January 2019 their arguments failed to secure a change in 2019 (see Legislation). the plans. In a Daily Mail article published on 20 In June 2019, Dame Elish Angiolini, in a September 2018 titled, ‘These cowards are preliminary report on the system of complaints using kids as human pawns’, Sajid Javid had against police in Scotland, reflected: announced the foundation of a National In these first years of Police Scotland and Coordinating Centre to combat ‘county lines’ the SPA a number of high-profile issues and drug dealing, exploiting vulnerable children problems have been the subject of intense media and adults. In February 2019 the Children’s and public scrutiny and the atmosphere around Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, the fledgling force appeared at times to be intervened in the policy debate. In Keeping febrile. kids safe: Improving safeguarding responses to gang violence and criminal exploitation, she With perhaps hopes for a fresh start, a new made wide-ranging criticisms of funding Chief Constable, Iain Livingstone, had taken shortages, fragmentation between government office in August 2018, along with a new Chief departments, and insufficient services for Executive of the SPA, Hugh Grover. In the same families and children. month the SPA and Police Scotland committed themselves to establish a Partnership Forum with In his annual assessment, Chief Inspector representatives of the five staff associations and Sir Thomas Winsor returned to his theme of vulnerability, referring to the impact of adverse trade unions. In July 2019 a Scottish Railways childhood experiences and inadequate state care Policing Committee was established jointly by the on those with poor outcomes. SPA and the British Transport Police Authority, in an attempt to progress governance from Scotland. A focus for concerns about vulnerable children

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 17 Police

has been the campaign for ‘Sammy’s Law’, a law offences involving knives or sharp instruments to expunge the offences of those who have rose to 45,316, the highest number since recording committed crimes under the direction of others began, while firearms offences also increased. and to provide the accused with a statutory In April 2019 the Home Secretary began a defence. The campaign has been led by consultation on a ‘public health duty’ to prevent Sammy Woodhouse, a victim of exploitation in serious violence, presaging a commitment in July Rotherham. Prominent police figures who have to legislate for such a duty embracing health, local supported the case for change have included authorities, police and other services. Simon Bailey, national police lead for child sexual abuse cases, and Sir Thomas Winsor himself. In In June 2019 the Chief Constable’s Report to the March 2019, the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding Northern Ireland Policing Board carried little of this and Vulnerability and Minister for Women, specific focus, perhaps reflecting a modest annual Victoria Atkins, met Woodhouse to discuss her increase of three per cent in violence with injury, experiences. according to Police Recorded Crime in Northern Ireland period ending 31 May 2019. In Scotland, In June 2019, the Chief Constable’s Report to the there was a four per cent increase in recorded Northern Ireland Policing Board described the serious assault and attempted murder in 2018-19, development of multi-agency Support Hubs according to Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2018-19. intended to support families in crisis. In July 2019 the Home Affairs Committee published Serious youth violence, a report on the Regulating safety online progress of the government’s strategy to tackle a The Chief Inspector Sir Thomas Winsor noted concerning problem. It did not mince its words, ‘a very significant increase’ in online child abuse stating that: images referred to the National Crime Agency We have concluded that the Government’s (NCA) over recent years. In April 2019 the Serious Violence Strategy is a completely Government published a White Paper Online inadequate response to this wave of violence Harms. The paper proposed the creation of a blighting our communities. regulator for online safety, affecting social media Greater central coordination led by the Prime platforms, public discussion forums, file hosting Minister was necessary. sites, messaging services and search engines. Moreover, early prevention and youth services The development of a regulatory policy marked a should be strengthened in a systematic manner. change in the governmental standpoint towards With evidence of child exploitation through the social dynamics of the internet age. ‘county lines’ drug dealing, a fresh approach to safeguarding was urged. Serious Violence The report called for increases in police officers In the year ending March 2019, though homicide and staff. At the same time, confidence in the declined after four years of increases, recorded police among young people from minority ethnic

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 18 Selected offences involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by police in England and Wales (excluding Greater Manchester Police)

July 2018-June 2019, showing % change on previous year Homicide Robbery 235 18,987 groups subject to disproportionate rates of stop -13% 10% and search needed to be raised. Attempted murder Rape It recommended new action to improve treatment for drug users, thereby reducing the demand met 412 503 by drug dealing. 22% 10% Threats to kill Sexual assault Funding and functions – the big picture 3,764 181 In the autumn the Home Affairs Committee had 20% 8% produced a wide-ranging report questioning Assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm the functional competence of the Home Office and the police. By July 2019 the Committee was 19,994 proposing more holistic and integrated solutions 2% to the problem of serious youth violence than Source: Office for National Statistics,Crime in England and Wales: year ending June 2019 appeared to have emerged from the government’s Selected offences involving a knife or sharp instrument strategy. In the same month the Chief Inspector recorded by police in Northern Ireland Sir Thomas Winsor criticised police funding, called for force reorganisation, and described the April 2018-March 2019, showing % change on previous year wider criminal justice system as ‘dysfunctional Homicide Actual bodily harm and and defective’. grievous bodily harm A pattern of disquiet and reflection was emerging 2 0% suggesting that major and harmful challenges 515 Attempted murder -4% were being inadequately tackled by approaches Robbery based on rigid and outmoded thinking; at stake were assumptions which over-estimated the 23 -41% impact of police practice and failed to recognise 155 Threats to kill 19% other factors in reducing harm. Meanwhile the Rape/sexual assaults Home Secretary announced plans to establish a Police Covenant. 65 33% 2 In the face of criticism, the new government led -50% by Boris Johnson was determined to declare its Source: Police Service of Northern Ireland, Police Recorded Crime in Northern Ireland: Update to 31 October 2019 willingness to support and fund the police. On Select offences involving a sharp instrument recorded by 24 July 2018, in his first speech as prime minister, police in Scotland Boris Johnson announced that the government would recruit an additional 20,000 police officers, April 2018-March 2019, showing % change on previous year a pledge the new Home Secretary, Priti Patel, Homicide Having in a public place an repeated in her first speech in September (see article with a blade or point Speeches). 27 -21% 2709 16% Source: Scottish Government, Source: Recorded crime in Scotland: 2018-2019 Homicide in Scotland, 2018-19

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 19 Data dashboard

The three data dashboard charts offer an at-a- different agencies and fields of operation. glance view of the key criminal justice data across • Criminalising: the criminal justice caseload, from the three UK jurisdictions at three points in time: the point of an offence being recorded to the the 2014/15, 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years. point of conviction. This means key criminal justice changes can be seen over a short and longer time period. • Punishing: the main outcomes from convictions: fines, community supervision and To make it as easy as possible to understand this imprisonment. mass of data, we have used a form of pie chart. These represent the magnitude of different data, The area of each slice represents the value of the relative to each other. indicator in a given year. Each slice is represented proportional to the other slices in its domain. For The charts for England and Wales and Scotland instance, the slice representing prison staff in contain 57 ‘slices’ of data, and the one for England and Wales in 2014/15 (34,130) is around Northern Ireland contains 60 slices. All charts are twice the size of the slice for courts and tribunals divided into four domains: staff in the same year (17,033). The slices are not • Spending: how much was spent across the represented proportionally across domains, nor different agencies and fields of operation (e.g. between the different jurisdictions. police, legal aid, prosecution). For more information on the data dashboard, see • Staffing: how many people worked in the the technical appendix on page 38.

England and Wales

and Prosecution rts Police

u s £0.509bn o al £0.529bn 2014/15 g C bun £0.542bn in Tri £1.853bn d £1.675bn en Pri p £0.914bn so 2017/18 S id n A £1.749bn S l 127,485 ga ta e 122,787 f L £1.731bn 123,478 34,130 f 2018/19 P in 35,762 ro g £1.815bn b t a r n 38,253 t e e io d £4.215bn 8,733 n n m fe e f g 9,310 O a £3.950bn n 3 a C 9,84 o m t r u £3.899bn i b r t u s 17,033 n a a £8.873bn n l e s d c 15,875 i l o £8.671bn P 16,219

£9.524bn r 6,135 o

c n

5,688 u

e 116,659

c 5,684 a

n 123,885 4,167,619 b

P m

143,882

5,519,401 l

c c

5,950,499 e

111,667

i n

d i a 373,237

l 117,224 t

p b

237,385

109,935

215,045

1,472,772

74,213

1,387,572 o

- a

1,376,287

l o

s i

82,487 1,226,672 t

1,202,139 u

p 1,194,209

r o

s c

g e 102,255 r P

r r

82,634

n t

i 83,263

s l

85,664 i

p g

C o

866,137 i

903,874

922,805

n i

r e d r o - t r C u o

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 20

922,805 Scotland

and Prosecution P

urts olice s £0.121bn o al £0.115bn 2014/15 C un £0.120bn ib £0.001bn tr £0.001bn P ris 2017/18 £0.025bn o g id n in a £0.134bn 17,295 l 17,170 628 d a S n g 17,251 t e e £0.139bn 4, a 2018/19 p L ff S 4,549 P i ro n £0.160b b g ty 4,477 i a n ti u o e £0. 2,050 n m c n ti 029b m s 1,970 o u £0.026bn n C j C o 2,100 t r u £0.030bn i b r t u s 1,427 n a a £0.343bn n

l n 1,566 s d

s i r £0.337bn 1,595 P

r £0.336b n 1,594 o

e c

£1.236bn 1,598 u

c n

i 1,69 l

£1.170bn 9

256,350 P

£1.208bn

244,504 i

e r

246,480 e

17,647

n m

116,38 d

t 19,480

d e

o 76,609

20,121 m

d P

c 71,705 s

123,333

16,966 o

s n

o 94

95,557 l

17,507

89,733

u 106,584 r

a C

b 37,2

17,416 83,179 r

78,503 i

39,235 m

7,789

o l

i 7,464

a g

7,731

o n

56,779 v r

i o

s s

e u

n i

r e d r o - t r C u o

Northern Ireland

and Courts g bunals Prosecut

in Tri ion

n £0.037b

d £0.042bn £0.037bn

n £0.040bn 2014/15 e id £0.034bn P p al a £0.041bn olic S g £0.099bn e Le £0.085bn 2017/18 £0.149b on 7,333 080 P ti £0.019bn , ri a 7 so ob n 2018/19 r £0.018bn 7,036 P n 1,824 S £0.018bn t 1,461 a P f r f £0.110bn o i n 1,489 0 b n o a g is 36 t r £0.10 io P n

7b 394 £0.121bn n 402 C

t o r u £0.955b i b 693 r e n u t c s i n l

a a o £0.927bn 661 n l

P s

£0.973bn

673

t n

2,560 54 r

9 o e

o m

e i

t c

a 470

2,366 u n

e t

i o

r m

471 n

2,303

105,073 c

2,561 101,

n l

c c

i 71

r e t

104,60 2 i i

t 2,471 r l

a u e

o o

10,223 3

r r

2,306 p

6,717

5,252

5,961 i n

i 31,480

t 5,092

t o

97 - n p

7 28,354 s

o e a

s c l

g i

29,308 s 4, c

r n

26,607

23,630 u

7 24,921

h r

1,448

r C

n 09 ,147

s r

o 1,439 ,

u i

P l

1,799 u

i p

n 13

p a

l r

C s

14,572 o

e c

t n

i i o

d r o - t r u o C

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 21 Courts

121 closures and counting Key reports In May 2019 the government announced that new principles would inform their ongoing Disclosure review programme of reducing the court and tribunal Attorney General’s Office 15 November 2018 estate in England and Wales. At the time of the announcement there had been 121 building Significant improvements could be made if some disclosure obligations closures as part of the HM Courts and Tribunals were performed earlier. Service reform programme, which was launched in 2016. Continued estate reduction had been Scottish Government response to originally planned until 2022. Proceeds from review of legal aid the sale of buildings had been earmarked to Scottish Government contribute around half the departmental savings 29 November 2018 the Ministry of Justice committed to in the 2015 Commitment to overhauling the legal Spending Review. aid system, the details of which will Following critical reports by both the National be the subject of public consultation later in 2019. Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee, the programme began this period of review with Post-implementation review of the reputation of being committed to closing LASPO Act 2012 buildings on an ambitious scale, with little £ Ministry of Justice consideration given to potentially impeding 7 February 2019 access to justice, or to the potential increased Reducing the scope of legal aid costs these closures might create elsewhere in the delivered significant savings but may system (see UKJPR 8). not have delivered value for money overall. In response, and following a consultation, the government issued new principles for future court closures. This included the overwhelming majority Transforming the court and tribunal estate of the population to be able to travel by public HM Courts and Tribunals Service transport to and from a court between 7.30am 10 May 2019 and 7.30pm. More consideration was promised New principles will inform the ongoing regarding assessing the needs of potential court court modernisation programme users as part of the closure process. ‘Vulnerable following widespread criticism and users’ in particular were promised further needs a government consultation about its assessments to mitigate any disproportionate work. impact court closures may have. Court closures and access to This definition of an acceptable court journey time justice introduced greater specificity to closure decisions House of Commons Library than had been the case in the programme to 18 June 2019 date. However, it is a notably less restrictive Full list of the 295 court facilities criterium than that of the previous court reduction closed since 2010. programme. The 2010 Court Estate Reform

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 22 Court reform: Scrapping and extending

Length of Scrapped plans to Scrapped plans to programme introduce online change the enforcement extended by a processes for the of court orders and year to 2023. Court of Protection. historic criminal debt.

Source: HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Reform update, June 2019

Programme, which also reduced the court estate, of defence fees. The government also agreed was guided by the principle that most of the to increases in judges’ remuneration. This public should be within one hour of their nearest followed the Court of Appeal upholding a legal court by public transport. challenge to changes in judges’ pensions and an These new principles were closely followed by ‘unprecedented’ recruitment crisis in High Court modifications to the HM Courts and Tribunals judges. Service reform programme (see Court reform: In February 2019 the MoJ published a post- Scrapping and extending). implementation review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing, and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Meanwhile another central plank of planned court Act, 2012, the legislation which paved the way for reform, increased digitisation, ran into difficulties. significant legal aid cuts. One consequence of The primary legislation required for online-only the cuts shown in the review is the reductions proceedings to be used as alternatives to in- across legal aid providers (see Criminal legal aid person court proceedings failed to complete its providers after LASPO). The review concluded the passage through parliament before the end of the legislation ‘met some of its objectives’ to deliver parliamentary session. savings and focus legal aid on the highest priority cases. However, it found that whilst savings Legal aid had been made to the cost of legal aid, it was not possible to conclude whether LASPO had The vastly reduced scope of legal aid has been achieved better overall value for money for the a thread running throughout the UKJPR series. taxpayer, as the knock-on effects of the cuts on This year saw an official review document the other departments could not be easily calculated. scale of change over the past six years, as well as continuing disputes between the government and Future legal aid commitments were the subject of the legal profession about their commitment to the Legal Support Action Plan, published alongside future legal funding. the post-implementation review. ‘The time is right,’ the plan stated, ‘for a more holistic review One battle that reached its conclusion was on of criminal legal aid’. The first phase of this, an the cuts to the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme. initial scoping of the review’s parameters, is due The Ministry of Justice had introduced a 37 per to conclude in summer 2020. cent cut in the maximum number of pages of prosecution evidence that legal representatives could be paid for in some Crown Court cases. Inquests Following a legal challenge by The Law Society, a In February the Ministry also issued the final High Court judgement on 3 August 2018 ended report in its review of legal aid for bereaved this cap. families following a state-related death. Currently The following summer, the Criminal Bar families can apply for legal aid to take part in an Association called off a week-long strike by its inquest, which they may or may not be awarded. members, having reached an interim agreement The government only went as far as outlining with the government on barristers’ prosecution new measures around guidance and signposting fees and received assurances about a review for bereaved families and their representatives.

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 23 Courts

It dashed any raised hopes for automatic non- reforming the system for handling complaints means tested legal aid. about legal services, including replacing the current regulatory bodies with a single regulator There was also stalled progress on the creation (see Regulating legal services in Scotland). of the Independent Public Advocate. Introducing this role had been a Conservative manifesto In November the Scottish Government commitment, with the promise to legislate for announced its future intentions for legal aid such a position to act for bereaved families after a following an independent review of legal aid public disaster, and support them during inquests earlier in the year (see UKJPR 8). A three per cent and inquiries. A consultation on proposals for the increase in all legal aid fees from April 2019 was post was held in late 2018. Several responses were announced. The proposal for a new public body critical about whether the planned role would have to replace the Scottish Legal Aid Board and drive adequate independence from government and legal aid reforms was rejected. A longer-term if it would have meaningful power in the inquest programme of legal aid reform was the subject of process. public consultation launched in June 2019.

Scotland Disclosure

The regulatory system for Scottish legal services In November 2018 the Attorney General, in his requires overhauling, according to Fit for the review of disclosure – the process by which the Future, an independent review commissioned by police and the Crown Prosecution Service share the Scottish government, published in October information with the defence that might help 2018. The report made 40 recommendations on the accused – acknowledged current failures

Criminal legal aid providers after LASPO

Change in no. of providers 2012-2013 to 2017-2018

Region Number South West -21% -13% Eastern -18% -10% Wales -18% East Midlands -16% -4%

South -15% -13% London -15% -16%

Merseyside -13% -18% -9% North East -13% -18% South East -13% -15% -15% North West -10% -21% -13% West Midlands -9% Yorkshire and Humberside -4% Total England and Wales -14%

Source: Post-Implementation review of part 1 of the LASPO Act 2012, February 2019

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 24 Regulating legal services in Scotland

Current model Scottish Ministers

Consultation

Lord President of the Court of Session Scottish Legal Complaints Commission

RECOGNISED BODIES

Independent Faculty of Advocates Law Society of Independent Scottish Solicitors’ Association of Faculty’s Scotland Discipline Tribunal Commercial Attorneys Discipline Tribunal

Proposed model

Audit Scotland The Scottish Parliament

The Court of Session The Independent Regulator of Legal Services in Scotland

Disciplinary Tribunal

Source: Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland, October 2018 were ‘systemic’. In response, the review set out abolishing the ‘same roof rule’. This rule excludes a programme of training with a greater focus on victims of crime pre-1979 from criminal injuries disclosure obligations earlier in the prosecution compensation if their assailant lived with them. process, and looking into the technical support The move follows a High Court ruling in July 2018 options to better review digital evidence. which found the restriction unfair.

Sentencing also featured in the Northern Ireland Courts and sentencing National Audit Office’s review of mental health Court decision-making featured in two wide- in the criminal justice system in May 2019. ranging reviews of criminal justice during the year. ‘The current sentencing framework is generally The potential to extend the convictions considered considered to be ineffective in supporting by the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme was rehabilitation,’ the review stated. This echoed mooted in the UK Government’s Victims Strategy calls for a comprehensive look at sentencing in September 2018. The scheme enables victims in Northern Ireland. Sentencing was to be and the public to have sentences reconsidered by the subject of a Department of Justice review the Court of Appeal. To do so would be the second commissioned in 2016, before these plans were time the current government have increased the interrupted by the dissolution of the assembly in scope of the scheme. The Unduly Lenient Scheme 2017. A public consultation on sentencing policy was first extended in July 2017 to include terror was finally launched by the department in late convictions. The strategy also committed to October 2019.

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 25 Prisons

In England and Wales, Peter Clarke, the Chief Key reports Inspector, opened his Annual Report 2018-19 by remarking on the ‘deeply troubling’ situation Prison health in many prisons. Far too many, he wrote, were House of Commons Health and Social ‘plagued by drugs, violence, appalling living Care Committee conditions and lack of access to meaningful 1 November 2018 rehabilitative activity’. Levels of self-harm, he The Government is failing its duty of added, were ‘disturbingly high’ while self-inflicted care towards prisoners, with prisoners deaths had ‘increased by nearly one-fifth on the held in unsafe conditions and limited previous year’. Far too many prisoners, he also access to healthcare. noted, were enduring ‘very poor and overcrowded living conditions’. Prison population 2022 House of Commons Justice Committee Prisons in Scotland appeared less crisis-prone, at 3 April 2019 least compared to England and Wales. However, The Government’s current approach in her firstAnnual Report as incoming Chief to a potentially growing prison Inspector, published in August 2019, Wendy population is inefficient, ineffective, Sinclair-Gieben offered a note of caution. A rising and unsustainable. prison population, with ‘increasingly complex’ needs, was a ‘heavy burden’ for an ‘overstretched The 2018/19 audit of the Scottish prison service’. She also raised concerns that ‘the Prison Service number of prisoners is starting to exceed design Audit Scotland 12 September 2019 capacity’. A rising prison population, declining While the governments in London and Edinburgh standards and financial pressures were variously addressing, downplaying or plain are a threat to operational safety, ignoring the immediate crisis conditions in many effectiveness and financial prisons, a longer-term shift became clearer. In sustainability. 2015, the UK government had announced a new- for-old ‘prison building revolution’. Old Victorian Report to the Government of the prisons were to be closed and replaced by new United Kingdom Council of Europe facilities. The underlying aim was broadly to 11 October 2019 maintain prison capacity at existing levels, while modernising the estate. At around the same The Committee for the Prevention of Torture condemns treatment of time, the then Scottish Justice Secretary, Michael prisoners in Scotland, especially those Matheson committed the Scottish government with mental health conditions. to delivering ‘an appreciably smaller prison population’, starting with women’s prisons (see Prison Governance UKJPR 6). House of Commons Justice Committee 31 October 2019 The new-for-old plans in England and Wales made faltering progress in the years following the 2015 The government is failing to address announcement. In August 2019 they came to an the crisis in the prison system across England and Wales and has no clear abrupt halt, with the announcement of 10,000 vision for the future. additional prison places ‘to keep the public safe’.

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 26 In Scotland, there was little evidence that the ‘Who is going to fill those extra places?’, asked government would deliver on its commitment the Labour MP and former prisons minister to reducing the women’s prison population. David Hanson. Plans to extend the period of Meanwhile, it also was laying down plans to imprisonment for some, Buckland had earlier told expand prison capacity. Over a period of a few the Committee, would mean an additional 2,000 years, both governments had shifted from halting people would probably be held in prison in ten attempts at managing, perhaps reducing, the years’ time. ‘The other factor inflating the prison prison population to an agenda that, if delivered, population’, Heaton volunteered, were plans to would see the UK moving towards a prison recruit ‘the 20,000 additional police officers’. capacity comfortably in excess of 100,000 by the Alongside scrutiny of the government’s plans to mid-2020s (see Incarceration nations). expand prison capacity, the Committee raised concerns about the prison maintenance backlog. Into the 22nd century Estimated at £900 million, the Ministry had Since 2015, the UK prison population had been on earmarked only £156 million. ‘I am not going a slow, declining trend. The change in the prison to pretend that it is enough’, Buckland said. population in Northern Ireland was the most Would not some of the £2.5 billion earmarked dramatic, dropping by nearly 20 per cent between for questionable prison expansion be spent 2015 and 2019. Scotland had bucked the trend. Its on addressing the backlog, asked Hanson. male prison population grew by six per cent, while Buckland’s response was revealing: the, numerically much smaller, female population It is tempting to say that, but we also need had remained stable. England and Wales had seen to look long term. The new prison model and a modest three per cent fall, from around 86,000 design we see at Wellingborough will take us into to just under 82,700 (see Numbers in prison). the 22nd century, as opposed to just tiding us The prison population estimate for England and over for now. Wales, published by the Ministry of Justice in Buckland’s predecessor, David Gauke, had been August 2019, projected a roughly stable prison exploring ways to manage down the prison population looking ahead, with around 82,000 population and close some of the older prisons. in prison by June 2023. Against this background, A report from the Justice Committee published in the Justice Secretary Robert Buckland briefed MPs April 2019 – Prison Population 2022 – had argued on the House of Commons Justice Committee that ‘ploughing funding into building prisons in October 2019 on the government’s ambitious to accommodate prison projections is not a plans to create an additional 13,600 prison places sustainable approach in the medium or long- by the mid-2020s. He also told the Committee the term’. Buckland’s evidence indicated that the government was scrapping plans, first announced government was setting in place the foundations in 2015 (see UKJPR 6), to close down Victorian- for a long-term expansion of the prison system. era prisons. This combination of new prison places and no more prison closures would deliver In Scotland, the Scottish Prison Service warned ‘between 95,000 and 105,000’ in total prison in its 2018 - 2019 Annual Report, published in capacity in England and Wales by the mid-2020s, September 2019, that the prison population was Sir Richard Heaton, Permanent Secretary at the ‘continuing to increase’, in the context of ‘an Ministry of Justice who accompanied Buckland, ageing prison estate’ that raised challenges over told the Committee. useable capacity.

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 27

Incarceration nations

England and Wales

5,734 7,295 21,757 additional places at places removed through total additional places new prisons closures or partial closures created or planned Berwyn Ashwell Isis Blantyre House Oakwood Blundeston Thameside Bullwood Hall 8,141 Canterbury Dorchester total places removed or Dover planned for removal 2,663 Glen Parva Gloucester additional places at Haslar existing prisons Holloway 13,616 Buckley Hall Kennet overall growth in capacity Bure Kingston Elmley Lancaster Castle Moorland Latchmere House Nottingham Northallerton Parc Reading Peterborough Shepton Mallet Stocken Shrewsbury The Mount Wellingborough Thameside

846 13,360 places planned additional places being for removal built or planned, including The Grange Full Sutton Dartmoor Glen Parva Wellingborough

Scotland 1,424 667 3,604 additional places at places removed through total additional places new prisons closures or partial closures created or planned Grampian Aberdeen Low Moss Noranside Peterhead 2,267 total places removed or 2,180 1,600 planned for removal additional places being built or planned places planned for Women’s Community removal Custody Units Barlinnie 1,337 Cornton Vale Women’s National Facility overall growth in capacity Glasgow Greenock Greenock R Inverness Highland

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 28 Numbers in prison

UK England and Wales Scotland Northern Ireland Total 2015 95,571 86,028 7,744 1,799 Total 2019 92,330 82,676 8,205 1,449

Change -3,241 (-3%) -3,352 (-4%) +461 (+6%) -350 (-19%)

Male prisoners 2015 91,211 82,144 7,333 1,734 Male prisoners 2019 88,100 78,910 7,806 1,384

Change -3,111 (-3%) -3,234 (-4%) +473 (+6%) -350 (-20%)

Female prisoners 2015 4,360 3,884 411 65 Female prisoners 2019 4,230 3,766 399 65

Change -130 (-3%) -118 (-3%) -12 (-3%) 0 (0%)

UK prison population England and Wales† Scotland† 100,000 8000 7000 80,000 6000 60,000 5000 4000 40,000 3000

20,000 2000 1000 0 0 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Northern Ireland* 2000 Male Female 1500 † England, Wales and Scotland figures relate to 1000 snapshot figure in last week of June * Northern Ireland figures relate to average annual 500 population figures by financial year

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 29 The Scottish Government 2019 – 2020 programme for government, published in Prison suicide and self-harm September 2019, committed to developing whole England and Wales system changes needed to address Scotland’s Suicide per 1,000 prisoners internationally high rate of imprisonment’. But as 3.5 in England and Wales, the Scottish Government 3.0 was expanding prison capacity under the guise 2.5 of modernisation (see Incarceration nations). 2.0 Older prisons, such as Barlinnie, Greenock 1.5 and Inverness were identified for closure. Their planned replacements were bigger. Highland 1.0 prison, for instance, was planned to have at least 0.5 double the capacity of Inverness. 0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

The crisis continues Self-harm incidents per 1,000 prisoners 3000 While the governments in London and Edinburgh 2500 were planning the expansion of prison capacity, the rising toll of suicide and self-harm across the 2000 prisons in the UK was but one of the more striking 1500 signs of the day-to-day crisis gripping the system 1000 (see Prison suicide and self-harm). 500 The prisons inspectorate in England and Wales 0 issued two urgent notifications (see UKJPR 8 for 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 more detail on urgent notifications): for Bristol and Feltham A in June and July 2019 respectively. Male A November 2018 report on prison health care Female by the House of Commons Health and Social Male and Female Care Committee concluded that the government was ‘failing in this duty of care towards people shortly before parliament dissolved for the detained in prisons in England’. A month earlier, General Election. The prison system across the prisons inspectorate and the Care Quality England and Wales, it stated, was ‘enduring a Commission had highlighted gaps in the provision crisis of safety and decency’, with many prisons ‘in of social care to older prisoners. an appalling state of disrepair’. The government’s These concerns were crystallised in a House of ‘policy by press notice’ approach lacked ‘a clear Commons Justice Committee report – Prison vision for the future of the prison system’. The Governance – published in late October 2019, Committee also criticised the government for

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 30 ignoring recommendations from the prisons inspectorate. Prison suicide and self-harm

An Audit Scotland report on the Scottish Prison Scotland Service, published in September 2019, noted that Suicide per 1,000 prisoners sickness absence among prison officers had risen 1.5 by 60 per cent in the three years to 2019. It also 1.2 highlighted ‘growing violence between prisoners 0.9 and against prison officers’ and questioned the 0.6 long-term financial sustainability of the Scottish 0.3 Prison Service. 0 2011-2014 2015-2018 An October 2019 report by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture made Attempted suicide and self-harm incidents per 1,000 shocking observations about the treatment 120 of some Scottish prisoners. In Cornton Vale 100 women’s prison, the Committee members witnessed several women being held in near 80 medieval conditions: 60 One woman refused any human contact, 40 another refused to dress and remained naked 20 every day, another smeared her walls with blood 0 and excrement, one regularly set her hair on fire, 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 another had bitten her arm through the skin and muscle down to the bone. Some of the women had rare human contact other than observation Northern Ireland Attempted suicide and self-harm incidents per 1,000* through hatches in the cell door. 2500 They found cells in Barlinnie prison to be 2000 particularly overcrowded. They also repeated their criticism, first raised in 1994, of the ‘very 1500 small waiting cubicles… termed “dog-boxes” by the prisoners’ in the prison’s reception area. 1000 The former prison governor and international 500 prisons expert, Professor Andrew Coyle, wrote in The Times newspaper that the report was 0 ‘the most critical I have seen it publish about 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 *Figures for 2018 could not reliably be established. British prisons’. He also criticised the Scottish government’s ‘disappointing and anodyne’ Male response. Female Male and Female

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 31 Probation Key reports Transforming rehabilitation: Progress review National Audit Office 1 March 2019 The rushed probation changes The period under review was marked by a rapid introduced in 2015 resulted in failure series of developments in England and Wales. and waste. The government’s future The events resulted in the scrapping of the failed plans for probation are storing up probation arrangements introduced in 2015 and future problems. proposals for, what seemed to many observers, equally flawed new arrangements. There were Report of the Chief Inspector of no probation developments of a similar scale or Probation HM Inspectorate of Probation significance in Scotland or Northern Ireland. This 28 March 2019 section focuses exclusively on the England and Wales developments. The current probation model is ‘irredeemably flawed’. A new approach, based on evidence, Irredeemably flawed individual needs, professionalism and public confidence should be The Chief Inspector of Probation in England developed. and Wales, Glenys Stacey, stood down in May 2019. She was replaced by Justin Russell, a long- Transforming rehabilitation: standing Whitehall insider who had served under Progress review House of Commons Public Accounts both Labour and Conservative governments. Committee A couple of months earlier, Glenys Stacey had 3 May 2019 used her final annual report to launch a stinging The probation service has been left in critique of the ‘irredeemably flawed’ changes a worse position than it was following to probation: the so-called ‘Transforming the ill-thought-through probation Rehabilitation’ programme implemented in 2015 reorganisation. (see former UKJPR reports). Probation leaders, she wrote, had been ‘required to deliver change The Proposed Future Model for Probation they did not believe in, against the very ethos HM Prison & Probation Service of the profession’. The changes had delivered 19 June 2019 a ‘deplorable diminution of the probation The draft operating blueprint for the profession and a widespread move away from future model of the probation system good probation practice’. from early 2021. Stacey’s was but one of a series of interventions strongly critical of the ‘Transforming Youth resettlement – final report into work in the community Rehabilitation’ programme. Also, in March, a HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM National Audit Office report highlighted how badly Inspectorate of Prisons wrong the government had got its sums (see 8 Oct 2019 Transforming rehabilitation?). Then in May, the Many of the same issues and barriers House of Commons Public Accounts Committee facing the children on release from concluded that the programme has ‘left probation custody, previously identified in 2015, remain the same.

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 32 processes and the public are left at undue risk’. Transforming rehabilitation? A Ministry of Justice statistical bulletin on deaths £269 million of offenders in the community, published in Forecast profit for CRCs at October 2019, pointed further to a general state bid stage of malaise. The number of deaths of individuals under probation supervision had doubled since - £294 million 2015, and was at the highest number since Forecast losses for CRCs recording had stared in 2011. This included a had contracts continued steep rise in the number of suicides (see Suicide under probation). £467 million Estimated additional cost New model for probation above original expectations In July 2018, as UKJPR 8 notes, the then Justice Secretary, David Gauke, announced his intention 14 to bring the disastrous probation changes to Number of months early the a premature end. Glenys Stacey had praised contracts are due to end Gauke for this ‘bold decision’, in the March 2019 CRCs: Community Rehabilitation Companies annual report. She also expressed doubt about his working proposals for a new model, which services underfunded, fragile, and lacking the in her mind ‘would leave serious design flaws confidence of the courts’. Moreover: unaddressed’.

Inexcusably, probation services have been Elsewhere in her report, Stacey set out four left in a worse position than they were in ‘design principles’, for use both in evaluating before the Ministry embarked on its reforms. of existing probation services, and in guiding future system design. The four principles covered Reducing the rates of recriminalisation and the importance of: evidence-based practice; reconviction of those released from prison meeting individual needs; system integration and having served a short (under 12 months) prison professionalism; and instilling confidence among sentences was a key government rationale for victims, the judiciary and the wider public. the ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ programme. A Against these four principles, the current report by the probation inspectorate in May 2019 probation system fared badly. In day-to-day found ‘no tangible reduction’ and ‘no material work, for instance, Stacey had found ‘a notable change’ in rates of recriminalisation, while ‘almost drift away from the evidence base for effective one in four are recalled to prison’. Rather than probation services’. This was a systemic issue receiving ‘intensive and holistic rehabilitative with the current system, Stacey argued, as she supervision’, released prisoners were ‘locked in made clear to the House of Commons Justice an expensive merry-go-round of criminal justice Committee in May 2019:

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 33 Probation

…a model where companies are in different ownership hardly suggests that you are Suicide under probation going to be openly sharing best practice. Suicide under probation supervision following I know of no mechanism at the moment release from prison have risen for that. Sodexo owns a good number of 150 CRCs, and good practice can promulgate Male in that company, within that ownership Female 120 arrangement, but it might not cross a boundary into Interserve or whatever. 90 On system integration and professionalism, Stacey argued that provision of probation interventions was patchy, that there was a 60 ‘national shorted of professional probation staff’ and that the profession as a whole had been 30 ‘downgraded’. Looking forward Stacey argued that future 0 probation arrangements needed a structure 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 and culture that ensured consistent, evaluated, evidence-based practice. Professional judgement Note: Each year is 12 months to end of March of and consistent practice also needed to be at the that year. heart of probation work. To rebuild confidence in the system, she argued for national strategies in areas such as estates, workforce planning and commissioning. She also called for effective integration of key probation activities ‘to ensure

Commission on Justice in Wales development - were devolved to the Welsh Assembly. This split resulted in complexity Justice in Wales for the People of Wales, the report and lack of coherence, and resulted in ‘serious of the Commission established in 2017, was disadvantages to the people of Wales which published in October 2019. The ‘people of Wales’, people in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland it argued, were ‘being let down by the system in do not experience’. its current state’. Legal aid cuts and advice deserts The Commission called for ‘full legislative were a particular problem in Wales. devolution’ of criminal justice to Wales, including While criminal justice policy in Wales was ‘a full transfer of the funding for the justice determined in Westminster, a range of other system’ and ‘the development in Wales of capacity, matters - such as education, health and economic capability and leadership’.

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 34 more consistent and effective supervision for ALL all those under community supervision would offenders’ (her emphasis - in bold). be the responsibility of the National Probation Service, working at a regional level. The blueprint The Commission on Justice in Wales, which also expressed a commitment to ‘recognising published the report of its two-year review in probation work as a professional vocation’, October 2019, was impressed enough by these a commitment the government proposed four principles to argue that they ‘should be to underpin via a ‘regulatory framework for applied to the design of the new integrated setting qualification requirements and practice National Probation Service of Wales’ (see standards’. Commission on justice in Wales). In other respects, though, the blueprint signalled The response from the government in London an ongoing attachment to commercialisation and was somewhat more muted. Stacey told MPs competition that many in the service, including on the Justice Committee in May 2019 that the Stacey, saw as part of the problem. The delivery Ministry of Justice had not consulted her on of much probation work – including unpaid its probation workforce strategy; an answer the work and accredited programmes – would Labour MP Marie Rimmer said left her ‘quite be undertaken by private or voluntary sector shocked’. Stacey’s apparently upbeat tone of ‘innovation partners’, rather than by the probation her report’s reception could also not mask a service itself. To many this looked rather like the somewhat downbeat note: discredited community rehabilitation company [M]y report from March is fully accepted by model, albeit in reduced form. the Secretary of State and by Rory Stewart, Seasoned probation observers in any case although he is no longer the Minister. No struggled to see the ‘successful elements’ in the one has said to me that the report is in any existing system and were concerned that the new way ill-informed or wrong. The issues are model looked like repeating the fragmentation understood and, in large part, accepted. The of probation work that had bedevilled the question is where we go from here. ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ changes. When Two days after Stacey’s appearance before the Financial Times reviewed the plans in early MPs, the Ministry of Justice announced its ‘new December 2019, they reported criticism of a ‘stack model for probation’. It planned ‘to build on ‘em high and treat ‘em cheap’ approach, and the successful elements of the existing system’, concerns over the split tendering approach, which while introducing ‘fresh ideas and innovative new would mean probation officers ‘having to co- rehabilitative services from private and voluntary ordinate an individual’s probation plan with two providers’. separate organisations’. The Chair of the National Association of Probation Officers, David Raho said: The government blueprint for the new model for probation, published in June 2019, went some What is needed is an entirely joined up and way to meet the challenge posed by Stacey and integrated public probation service that others. In a nod in the direction of greater system frees up frontline professionals to tackle integration, for instance, the model proposed that reoffending.

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 35 Coming Up

Brexit in sight? Criminal justice policy put back in the

The Brexit deadline ran to 31 October 2019 when spotlight the new government headed by Boris Johnson The new government made early announcements agreed to leave the EU, this time without fail. In about criminal justice changes, which were July, important new faces had joined the Johnson consolidated in the Queen’s Speech in October. cabinet: Priti Patel was appointed as Home By 2022 an extra 20,000 police were to be recruited. Secretary and Robert Buckland took over as Minister of Justice. After a review of sentencing it was proposed that those convicted of violent and sexual offences and When parliament returned to Westminster after serving four or more years will serve at least two the Supreme Court nullified its prorogation, thirds of their sentence in prison. questions were posed about justice and security arrangements. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Foreign national offenders who breached Lancaster, Michael Gove, reported that talks with deportation orders would be treated more severely. the EU were under way about access to relevant 10,000 new prison places were to be created by EU instruments but there would be ‘new tools the mid-2020s and £100 million was due to be available to tackle people trafficking, smuggling spent on extra prison security. and other criminal activity.’ Restrictions were to be lifted on the use of stop It was reported that, in England and Wales, 26 and search in an area, under S.60 of the Criminal out of 43 forces had restricted officers’ leave in Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which does not the period up to the possible no-deal departure require suspicion of particular individuals. on 31 October. Meanwhile, Simon Byrne, Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, stated that the service had no plans Reports to police checkpoints on the border with the In Thematic Inspection of the Scottish Police Authority, Republic. Gillian Imery, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of In mid-October, however, a proposed ‘deal’ Constabulary in Scotland, commended changes between the EU and the new government in its membership and personnel but questioned suddenly materialised. The political declaration on its relationship with the Chief Constable and the future relationship spoke of ‘comprehensive, lamented its lack of public profile. The SPA close, balanced and reciprocal law enforcement Chief Executive’s departure was announced in and judicial cooperation in criminal matters’ September 2019, followed by the appointment of and sought to identify areas of cooperation: data an interim replacement. exchange; operational cooperation between law In October, in her Annual Report 2018-19, the enforcement authorities and judicial cooperation Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) Sue in criminal matters; and anti-money laundering McAllister commented on the need to address and counter terrorism financing. failures to implement PPO recommendations. In Transforming courts and tribunals – a progress update, the National Audit Office warned that the impact of the courts closure programme on users remained unclear and that savings were not as great as anticipated.

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 36 The General Election campaign 10,000 extra prison places, the Labour party committed to restore prison officer numbers to After the December election was announced, the the levels of 2010 and would bring about fully manifestos of the leading parties duly touched on public systems of prison and probation. Liberal criminal justice. Democrats promised an additional 2,000 prison Police officers and a package of support for all released All three leading parties wanted to strengthen the prisoners. National Crime Agency. The Liberal Democrats Drug policy reform promised to invest £1 billion in community policing; Labour competed with the Conservatives Distinctively, Labour would establish a Royal over police numbers, promising to exceed the Commission ‘to develop a public health approach Conservative commitment by 2,000 front line to substance misuse, focusing on harm reduction officers. rather than criminalisation’. Liberal Democrats would end prison sentences for personal drug Whereas the Conservatives wished to expand the possession. role of Police and Crime and Commissioners, the Liberal Democrats would replace them with Equalities Boards of local councillors. The Liberal Democrats promised to reduce the over-representation of Black and Minority Ethnic The leading parties promised more joined up groups in the criminal justice system, including in approaches to reducing violent crime; Labour the use of stop and search. and the Liberal Democrats planned to restore community or neighbourhood policing. Labour too vowed to confront institutional bias Online harms were a focus of commitments from against Black and Minority Ethnic groups. all three leading parties, Labour proposing a cyber Vulnerabilities security minister and the Liberal Democrats an Labour and the Conservatives were committed to Online Crime Agency. upholding standards for crime victims in general. Legal aid, courts and sentencing All three leading parties would fight violence The Conservatives proposed a Royal Commission against women and girls, legislate on domestic on criminal justice process; Labour would abuse and propose measures to support refuges implement the criminal legal aid review, halt court and rape crisis centres. closures and staff cuts, and facilitate a more Brexit representative judiciary. Though the Conservative manifesto fell virtually The Conservatives pledged again to end release at silent on European criminal justice cooperation, the halfway stage of sentences for serious crimes; Labour would prioritise a new security treaty with the parole system was to be thoroughly reviewed. the EU while the Liberal Democrats, advocating remaining in the EU, were predictably content Labour and the Liberal Democrats presented with current EU cooperation. The Conservative proposals to reduce short prison sentences and election victory ensured that its proposals will pursue alternatives. take centre stage in the coming year, though at the Prisons and probation time of writing the coronavirus pandemic has put Whereas the Conservatives focused on creating plans on hold.

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 37 Technical appendix

References some are at 31 March each year, and others are averages over the financial year. To avoid the unnecessary clutter of a detailed Some agencies and functions have different scholarly apparatus, this report contains no names in different jurisdictions even though references or footnotes. Sufficient detail on the they refer to roughly the same thing. In England titles and publication dates has been included to and Wales, the main prosecuting authority is the enable most readers to track down publications Crown Prosecution Service. In Scotland, it is the referred to in the text. Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. In Northern Ireland, it is the Department of Public Data dashboard Prosecutions. Prosecution spending and staffing Data data refer to these agencies in the relevant All data used in the charts is collated from official jurisdiction. Community justice in Scotland is administrative sources. This includes annual equivalent to probation in the rest of the UK. reports and accounts and official statistical All spending data included in the charts refers releases. to central government expenditure on criminal Care was taken to produce comparable indicators justice. Some figures are total managed across jurisdictions that had the same units expenditure which includes resource, capital and of analysis and were measured over the same annual managed expenditure. Other figures are time period. However, directly comparable data comprehensive net expenditure. Expenditure is was not always available. Some staffing figures adjusted to real terms. are different measures of labour time (full time Definitions equivalents or whole time equivalents) and Prison receptions are the number of people some are actual numbers of people employed entering prison in a given year. Scotland did not (headcounts). Most indicators are measured over have current data on prison receptions. Probation financial years, but a few were only available for commencements refer to commencements of calendar years. For measures at a single point a period of court-ordered supervision in the in time, like prison population or staffing levels, community.

More detailed footnotes to the data and a full list of original sources is available in data files from our website: www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/project/uk-justice-policy-review

UK Justice Policy Review: Volume 9 25 July 2018 to 12 December 2019 38 UK Justice Policy Review

Publications in the series

UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review

Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Volume 4 6 May 2010 to 5 May 2011 6 May 2011 to 5 May 2012 6 May 2012 to 5 May 2013 6 May 2013 to 5 May 2014

by Richard Garside and Helen Mills by Richard Garside and Arianna Silvestri By Richard Garside, Arianna Silvestri by Richard Garside and Matt Ford and Helen Mills

UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review

Volume 5 Volume 7 Volume 8 6 May 2014 to 5 May 2015 From Brexit referendum 8 June 2017 to 24 July 2018 to General Election

24 June 2016 to 8 June 2017

by Richard Garside and Matt Ford by Richard Garside, Roger Grimshaw, Matt Ford and Helen Mills by Richard Garside, Roger Grimshaw and Matt Ford

UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Review FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5 Issue 6 Young people, violence andDoes knives stop - and search reduce crime? ‘Stopping short?’ Sentencing reform Assessing the Trends2017 in criminalrevisiting justice the spending, evidence andBen policy Bradford and discussions Matteo Tiratelli Trends in criminal justice spending, staffing and By Roger Grimshaw and Matt Ford and short prison sentences Centre for Crime and populationsmuch of the continued 2008-2009 political, social and to 2017-2018 Justice Studies Summary by Helen Mills 2 Langley Lane cultural salience of stop and search, is clear. staffing and populations London SW8 1GB Despite recent declines in its use, stop and search General Election Manifestos Centre for Crime and [email protected] Stop and search in England and Wales, and violence which underlie the familiar themes of Justice Studies Introduction www.crimeandjustice.org.uk continues to be one of the most controversialBy Matt Ford […] there is a very strong case to abolish [prison] I believe [moving away from short prison sentences] is 2 Langley Lane ‘gangs’ and illegal drug markets. These deeper cognate practices such as stop and frisk in London SW8 1GB ©Centre for Crime and powers vested in police in England and Wales. sentences of six months or less altogether, with a balanced, considered and, crucially, evidence-based [email protected] As well as providing an update on recent trends influences include some fundamental social the US, has consistently been shown to be The coalition years Richard Garside By Matt Ford Justice Studies some closely defined exceptions, and put in their approach to sentencing policy […] And I would hope that the www.crimeandjustice.org.uk in the phenomenon of ‘knife crime’, this briefingFebruary 2019 Yet until recently there has been surprisingly little disproportionately directed towards people from “ “ relationships - inequality, deprivation and social ISBN: 978-1-906003-72-2 research assessing its effectiveness in reducing place, a robust community order regime. next Prime Minister would continue with this reform agenda. ©Centre for Crime and seeks to review the subsequent development of trust - as well as mental health. visible ethnic minorities. The reasons for this Justice Studies UK Justice Policy Review Focus crime. In this briefing we attempt to redressCentre this for Crime and depend on demographic and other social factors November 2018 policy themes that emerged in a series of reportsis a series that sits alongside Justice Studies disproportionalityIntroduction are likely to be complex, ranging Former Justice Secretary David Gauke Former Justice Secretary David Gauke ISBN: 978-1-906003-68-5 the annual UK JusticeAt itsPolicy heart are choices about the scope and 2 Langley Lane Centre for Crime and Centre for Crime and published by the Centre for Crime and Justice imbalance. Starting with an overview of recent such as the size of the specific populations Numerous policies to tackle violence against depend, amongst other things, on demographic Review reports. It offers London SW8 1GB from stereotyping, implicit and institutional bias 18 February 2019 18 July 2019 Justice Studies Justice Studies This UK Justice Policy Review Focus looks at Introduction Introduction UK Justice Policy Review Focus in-depth analysis effectsof criminal of criminal justice as a means of managing [email protected] targeted by the police. 2 Langley Lane 2 Langley Lane Studies (CCJS) in the period around 2008 when trends in the use of stop and search, we then women and girls, and to support victims of crime, is a series that sits alongsidefactors such as the size of the specific populations justice policy and data www.crimeandjustice.org.ukto the political, social and economic positions London SW8 1GB London SW8 1GB public safety. Does criminal justice offer a trends in key data about the criminal justice This UK Justice Policy Review Focus assesses the This UK Justice Policy Review Focus looks atthe annual UK Justice Policy knife crime reportedly last peaked in Englanddevelopments. draw on our own research, as well as a number Centre for Crime and ‘Abolish’ is not standard terminology for justice 1. The case for reducing short prison sentences, as [email protected] [email protected] also proposed by all three manifestos. targeted by the police. of different groups in society. But there is little Justice Studies Where possible we present data covering the ten- Review reports. It offers proven and certain way to increase protection ©Centre for Crime and systems in each jurisdiction of the UK. It covers www.crimeandjustice.org.uk www.crimeandjustice.org.uk of other recently published studies, to suggest 2 Langley Lane 2017 General Election manifesto proposals on trends in key data about the criminal justicein-depth analysis of criminal and Wales. It highlights the progress of differentThe views expressed in this Justice Studies doubt that it is real. People from certain minority year periodsecretaries from 2008-2009 talking about to 2017-2018 their intentions to get a for it has been presented by various government On other matters, there are notable differences. justice policy and dataWhere possible we present data covering the document are thosefor of populationsthe or are there alternatives which Date: July 2019 the main criminal justice institutions of theLondon SW8 1GB ©Centre for Crime and ©Centre for Crime and strategic approaches to violence and what we can that its overall effect on crime is likely to be at crime and justice by the three main UK-wide systems in each jurisdiction of the UK. It coversdevelopments. authors and not necessarily ISBN: 978-1-906003-74-6groups have been shown time and again to be [email protected] understanding reform. of The current notion trends. put forward The in figures in the period January to July 2019. Justice Studies Justice Studies police, courts, probation and prison. The aim is to Labour is committed to a review of the privatised period from 2005-2006 to 2015-2016 to get a those of the Centredeserve for Crime concerted development and review? In www.crimeandjustice.org.uk May 2017 parties: the Conservatives, Labour and the DecemberLiberal 2017 the main criminal justice institutions of the discern about their prevention mechanisms and best marginal. Existing research evidence seems February this year, of taking a firmly established The views expressed in this and Justice Studies or The UK Justice Policy Reviewmore likely than others to stopped, with often very financial year 2017-2018 is the most recent year 2. The options for sentencing reform with the ISBN: 978-1-906003-57-9 ISBN: 978-1-906003-63-0 particular what does a ‘public health’ approach provide reliable, accessible data on trends in©Centre areas for Crime and probation service. Neither the Conservatives document are those meaningfulof the understanding of current trends. The Hadley Trust. to converge on this conclusion. This, we suggest,Focus is a series that sits Democrats. Responsibility for crime and justice police, courts, probation and prison. The aim is to effects. significant implications for themselves and those Justice Studies for whichelement comparable of sentencing data for each practice, jurisdiction questioning its authors and not necessarily mean? Is it police-led, albeit with community alongside the annual UK such as criminal justice spending, staffing, and the intention to reduce short prison sentences and UK Justice Policy Review UK Justice Policy Reviewnor the Liberal Democrats – who pushed financial year 2015-2016 is the most recent year Date: August 2019 is a devolved matter in the case of Scotland and provide reliable, accessible data on trends inthose areas of the Centre for Crime The Centre for Crime means that questions of the effectiveness ofJustice stop Policy Review reports. value, and saying we should do something else Focus is a series that sits Focus is a series that sits Our previous report sponsored by the Children’s around them (Bradford, 2017; Shiner et al., 2018). ISBN is 978-1-906003-75-3is available. 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FiguresWill it4, rise 5 and above 6 show or fly how under much the of radar total of our Scotland violenceand Northern more generallyIreland between where this2011-2012 seemed criminal justice and social coalition-building, advocacy violence against women, mental health, drugscoalition-building, and advocacy Trends in these areas will be affected by a varietyby guarantee seems to function as a signifier for the practicesolutions to the problems The case for the reform of short prison sentences and research, we work to and research, we work to ‘must’ work. In October 2018, for example, Home harm. Through partnershipcriminal justicedistracted expenditure political times?each component and Crime Commissioners. The Liberal Democrats Registered in Englandand 2015-2016.appropriate: Figures knives 4-6 show are such how anmuch everyday of tool of in new ways that address the underlying drivers society faces, so that many criminal justice system and without. 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All three manifestos, for instance, variouslylonger required. projects in the USA and imported to the UK Registered charity and increaseavailable efficiency to arrest in the people use of in this the power’first place, societywhich faces, so thatand many attempt to be inclusive of spending by all reduction therefore apply. responses that criminalise in part depend on the number of police officers by the Treasury for international comparison of the impositions of policing on individualsNo. and 251588 issues that have been highlighted over recent of 2019 can be boiled down to three justifications. Registered charity No. 251588 propose to ‘transform prisons into places ofRegistered charity No. 251588 through the Violence Reduction Unit, a police-led (Bentham,in 2018). turn will At thedepend other on end police of the budgets. political On theand punish are no longergovernment departments. They therefore include required. months, in relation to sentencing reform and Assessingavailable the tomanifestos arrest people in the first place, which and attemptThis to briefing be inclusive does ofnot spending replicate by the all scale of our communities; or into consideration of the needA company limited Short prison sentences: A company limited rehabilitation, recovery, learning and work’ A company limited project in Scotland. While these approaches have by guarantee spectrum,other London hand, Mayor the numberSadiq Khan of people argued arrested in will local as well as central sources of expenditure. Registered charity by guarantee by guarantee in turn will depend on police budgets. On the governmentearlier departments. evidence review. They thereforeInstead we include referred to for, ability of, and means available to police Registeredto in England restricting the use of prison, remain highly (Liberal Democrats), make prisons ‘places of Some helpful comparisons of the full array of January 2018 that ‘when based on real intelligence, No. 251588 Registered in England Registered in England been broadly welcomed in the UK, they have not 1. Do not work other hand, the number of people arrested will local as wellmaterials central collated sources from of expenditure. literature searches that ‘fight’ crime - and, of course, their effectivenessNo. 496821 in significant to those concerned with criminal No. 496821 reform and rehabilitation’ (Conservatives), No.and 496821 contrasting and complementary manifesto so far been implemented in England and Wales geographically focused and performed A company limited 1 sought to identify important developments based doing so. It can in short be difficult to talk about by guarantee justice reform. It is these matters this briefing 2. Are fuelled by a use of prison for less serious/ ‘insist on personal rehabilitation plans for all proposals are already available. This Focus report with the focus and investment that might have professionally, [stop and search] is a vital tool for Registered in England on the previous themes which as we shall see are stop and search without also talking about a much No. 496821 focuses on. Three main elements are covered less harmful lawbreaking for which there are prisoners’ (Labour). Given the years of failure, by takes a different approach. It uses three criteria to been expected. Had they been put into practice, the police to keep our communities safe. It will coming into clearer focus in public discussion. wider range of policing issues. here. better responses in the community different governments, to make prisons places of assess some of the main manifesto pledges. The we might have been able to see more evidence let the police target and arrest offenders, take reform, such proposals are little short of pieties. three criteria are: In particular, the study identifies ‘drivers’ of about theirThe effectiveness. reason for the first of these turns, and the weapons they carry off our streets and stop 3. Create chaos and churn in the prison estate

1 See, for instance the useful summary by Crest: http://crestadvisory.com/crest-election-manifesto-round-up/

Assessing the 2017 General Election Manifestos Trends in criminalCENTRE justice FOR spending, CRIME ANDstaffing JUSTICE and populationsSTUDIES Young people,CENTRE violence FORand knivesCRIME - ANDrevisiting JUSTICE the evidence STUDIES and policy discussions Does stop andCENTRE search FOR reduce CRIME crime? AND JUSTICE STUDIES Trends in criminalCENTRE justice FOR spending, CRIME AND staffing JUSTICE and STUDIESpopulations 2008-2009 to 2017-2018 Reforming shortCENTRE prison FOR sentences CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 1 1 1 1 1 1

You can download all the previous reports from our website: www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/project/uk-justice-policy-review

CENTRE FOR CRIME AND JUSTICE STUDIES 39 The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies is an independent educational charity that advances public understanding of crime and criminal justice. Through diverse, inclusive and durable collaborations, we work to advance knowledge of crime and criminal justice, to champion evidenced and just policy and practice, and to support good legislation.

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