Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2014 to 2015
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 Annual Report and Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 (For the year ended 31 March 2015) HC 12 Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 (For the year ended 31 March 2015) Accounts presented to the House of Commons pursuant to Section 6(4) of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 Annual Report presented to the House of Commons by Command of Her Majesty Annual Report and Accounts presented to the House of Lords by Command of Her Majesty Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 2 July 2015 HC 12 This is part of a series of departmental publications which, along with the Main Estimates 2015-16 and the document Public Expenditure: Statistical Analyses 2015, present the Government’s outturn for 2014-15 and planned expenditure for 2015-16. © Crown copyright 2015 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at Direct Communications Unit, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF. Telephone: 020 7035 4848 (09:00-17:00 Mon-Fri) Fax: 020 7035 4745 Print ISBN 9781474120937 Web ISBN 9781474120944 ID 04061501 07/15 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK by the Williams Lea Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 Contents i Foreword from the Home Secretary 3 ii Foreword from the Permanent Secretary 4 Annual Report 1 Strategic Report Departmental Structure 5 Our Vision 7 Cut crime 7 Reduce immigration 14 Prevent terrorism 19 Promoting growth by keeping the UK safe 22 Performance Indicators 24 Home Office Science 28 Better Regulation 29 Sustainability 31 Our staff 36 Strategic Review 38 Consultancy Services expenditure 41 Complaints 42 Response to correspondence 43 Payment of suppliers 43 2 Directors’ Report Lead Non-Executive Board Member’s Report 44 Our Ministers 46 Machinery of Government changes 48 Going concern 48 Future Developments 48 Our Boards 49 Recruitment policy 52 Off-Payroll engagements 53 Data Losses / Information Assurance 54 Remuneration Report 56 Governance Statement 67 Statement of Accounting Officer’s Responsibilities 86 The Certificate of the Comptroller & Auditor General to the House of Commons 87 3 2014-15 Annual Accounts Statement of Parliamentary Supply 90 Notes to the Departmental Resource Accounts (Statement of Parliamentary Supply) 91 Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure 99 1 Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 Consolidated Statement of Financial Position 100 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 101 Consolidated Statement of Changes in Taxpayers’ Equity 102 Notes to the departmental accounts 105 Annex – Departmental Core Data Tables 167 Glossary 179 2 Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 Foreword by the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Theresa May MP I am immensely proud of what the Home Office has achieved in all areas of its work in the past five years. We have implemented a programme of radical police reform, introduced a landmark Modern Slavery Act, overhauled our immigration system, and acted swiftly to respond to the grave and growing threats we face from terrorism. Crime is down by more than a quarter since 2010, according to the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales. Over 870 bogus colleges have been shut. Our benefits system has been tightened and our deportation laws streamlined. We have clamped down on sham marriages, removed more than 24,000 foreign criminals and revoked the driving licences of over 9,500 illegal immigrants within the last year alone. And in our work to counter- radicalisation we have trained more than 160,000 frontline workers, excluded more preachers of hate than any other government, and we are successfully taking down on average 1000 items of online terrorist-related material per week. I want to thank all Home Office staff for their hard work and dedication in delivering this record of achievement. Now with a Conservative majority following the general election, we are a new and different Government, and there is work to do for us to deliver on our manifesto commitments. The themes, however, remain the same: to cut crime, reduce immigration and prevent terrorism. They are themes that absolutely fit into those of the wider Government. We are a Government for one nation, and our work to tackle extremism will help us protect people, families and communities from those who seek to spread hatred and sow discord and division. We will actively promote the British values that underpin our pluralistic society and which allow us to prosper and live in peace. We are a Government for working people, and must build an immigration system which works in the national interest – fair to British subjects and legitimate migrants, and tough on those who flout the rules or abuse our hospitality as a nation. We must also strive to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Our work to ensure social justice – to tackle child abuse, modern slavery and violence against women – is of immense importance. The Home Office’s achievements over the past five years have been significant. The work everyone in this department does makes a real difference to people’s lives every single day. But with a clear and strong mandate, we must now work even harder, so that we can build a better life for the people of this country, and a Britain which is safer, fairer and stronger. Rt Hon Theresa May MP Home Secretary 3 Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 Foreword by the Permanent Secretary, Mark Sedwill In 2014-15 our priorities remained to cut crime, reduce immigration and prevent terrorism, whilst contributing to the government’s growth agenda, and over the past year and the duration of the Coalition Government we achieved the main commitments asked of us. Crime is down and police reform has continued. The College of Policing is driving the implementation of professional standards across the police, and the Modern Slavery Bill was made law on 26 March 2015. However, a number of child sexual abuse (CSA) issues have emerged which led to the appointment, in February 2015, of Justice Lowell Goddard to lead the independent inquiry into CSA. It has also been recognised that CSA is an ongoing national threat and the scale of the challenge to tackle this alongside bringing justice to the victims cases, is significant, and will continue to be a high profile area of work for the Department over the next few years. Reducing the risk of terrorist attack continues to be a key departmental priority. We updated counter-terrorism legislation to ensure that the police and intelligence agencies have the powers they need to deal with the increased and evolving terrorism threat. We also implemented the Serious Crime Act, consolidating and updating earlier legislation to ensure, for example, that extremists are prevented from accessing terrorism training overseas. Through the Immigration Act 2014, we implemented fundamental changes to the UK removals and appeals processes. Whilst net migration increased over the course of the year, the act will reduce the pull factors which encourage people to come to the UK for the wrong reasons, and make it easier to remove people who should not be here. We also implemented the immigration health surcharge for non EEA nationals and, from 8 April 2015, introduced exit checks which will allow us to collect and analyse information on people leaving the UK. Demand for passports in the first six months of the year was higher than anticipated, affecting our delivery and causing unacceptable delays for some customers. To address this, Her Majesty’s Passport Office ceased operations as an executive agency on 30 September 2014 and was incorporated into the Home Office. Further organisational change during the year saw the Gangmasters Licensing Authority becoming a non departmental public body of the Home Office, and the Disclosure and Barring Service becoming a public corporation. Home Office transformation continued during the year. As well as improving delivery, we have made good progress on our other three priorities of improving digital, skills and engagement, and how we lead and manage change. We have invested heavily in developing operational and management skills and improved our IT resilience, taking the first step in providing a modern IT capability for our staff. But there is still work to do which is why, building on the progress we have made this year, we are continuing with consistent competence as the key theme for the first year of the next Parliament. My role as Accounting Officer is to ensure effective financial management within a challenging financial landscape. We continue to drive value for money savings across all of our services, and we are planning for continued financial restraint during the next Parliament through to 2020. Our focus on medium term planning puts us in the best possible position to deliver further future savings, whilst, at the same time, minimising the impact on our operational activities. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff for their hard work during the last year. Mark Sedwill Permanent Secretary 4 Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 1 Strategic Report Departmental Structure Headquarters The Home Office’s Headquarters is located at 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.