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See other news storiesJohn Reid: Work has only begun
29 January 2007
In a ministerial article in today's Guardian newspaper, Home Secretary John Reid addressed the current controversies over problems at the Home Office.
In the article, the Home Secretary compared the reform of the Home Office to renovating a house, pointing out that, only when you get started do you really see all that needs to be done. The last thing to do when that happens, he wrote, is to stop working.
'But the idea that you stop fixing things because you discover more problems is not my way,' he wrote. 'No one need tell me that there are problems at the Home Office. I know. That's why when I came in I instigated a root-and-branch overhaul, and why I said parts of the Home Office were "not fit for purpose".
'There are problems in each of the separate 'silos' within the department, and with how they relate to each other. Many are problems I inherited - such as foreign national prisoners or overseas criminal convictions. Others have been discovered because of reform, such as the latest concerns about drug offenders' travel orders not being enforced.
'These problems don't leave me beleaguered. If we weren't discovering more we wouldn't be reforming. Indeed I expect more problems. In each of the rooms of the Home Office are upcoming challenges like pay pressures, prison population pressures, counter-terror challenges and stubbornly high reoffending rates. There will also be problems I haven't discovered yet - and may well be unearthed by others. If we were not open about challenges as we discover them we would not be being serious about reform.'
A fast-changing world
That situation, he wrote, is exacerbated by the fact that the country has been changing faster than the Home Office could change. Mass migration, the technology inherent in the information age, and environmental issues are changing the world. So just restoring the existing structure to its previous condition won't resolve the problems. It has to be pushed into the modern age, and prepared to address new crimes such as identity theft and people smuggling.
'I was sent to the Home Office to do a job,' Dr Reid wrote. 'Being home secretary is my biggest challenge. But it isn't mission impossible. Judge me not on the challenges but on my response to them.'
He used as an example the passport service, where the long queues of a few years back have been replaced by fast response times and customer satisfaction ratings better than Tesco or Amazon.
Positive change that really impacts people's lives for the better can happen, 'when committed public servants change to deliver for the British public,' he wrote.
Striking the right balance
That kind of change is apparent already in some areas, he wrote. 'The first of the new prisons I asked for in July is under construction. And last week's crime figures confirmed a downward trend of the past decade. Policing is becoming visible, local and accountable with neighbourhood teams.'
The barrage of criticism levelled at the Home Office in recent days, he wrote, has not been entirely fair, and is not reflecting the sheer amount of work already underway to change the department. 'Last week I was lambasted when the lord chancellor, the attorney general and I set out the big picture on prisons and sentencing to the National Criminal Justice Board. This was unfair - the lord chief justice made clear that I had "not sought to instruct judges to stop imposing sentences of imprisonment".
'There is pressure on prison places because we are bringing 300,000 more offences to justice every year than five years ago; the most dangerous offenders serve significantly longer sentences; and we asked the probation service and police to enforce community sentences and bail conditions properly for the first time.'
At the same time, the government has created almost 20,000 more prison places since 1997, and plans are now in place to create another 8,000. But projecting what the prison population will be in the future is never an exact science. Many elements are creating pressures on prison capacity at the moment - the situation is complex and the Home Office is working hard to strike the right balance.
Getting the job done will take time
So, the job that needs to be done - fundamentally changing the way the Home Office works - is already underway, but it will take time.
'Some people see their main task as changing the ministers at the Home Office,' Dr Reid wrote. 'I see my main task as changing the Home Office. The British people need and deserve a Home Office that protects the public - a functioning 21st century public service.
'It is what I am going to do.'
