About us
Reforming the Home Office
Home Office responsibilities have been refocused to meet the challenges of the modern world.
In 2006 the Home Office launched an ambitious programme of reform. As part of this programme, our responsibilities were refocused.
Based on this reform, we launched a new strategy in February 2008, which sets out how we plan to meet the growing challenges of the modern world.
How we are doing now
The 2008 capability review of the Home Office (new window) shows the progress we have made to address the weaknesses detailed in a similar review done in 2006.
How we have changed
The reform action plan set out how we would reshape the Home Office to:
- focus on frontline delivery
- develop our people, and particularly our leaders
- match our resources to priorities
- transform our systems and processes
Already we have:
- agreed the design of the new Home Office and implemented it one year early
- set up new agencies to improve frontline work
- reduced the size of the Home Office and achieved £2bn of efficiency gains 16 months early
- invested in improved processes and systems, and raised our working standards
- improved our accounting practices
- developed our leadership and management
Other changes
The Ministry of Justice is now responsible for:
- criminal law and sentencing
- reducing reoffencing
- prisons and probation
The Office for Criminal Justice Reform is now hosted by the Ministry of Justice, but remains trilateral - reporting to the Secretary of State for Justice, the Home Secretary and the Attorney General.
Reforming the criminal justice system
In 2006 we published a review into rebalancing the Criminal Justice System in favour of the victim and the law-abiding majority.
It outlined the improvements already made to the justice system, and focused on:
- putting law-abiding communities and victims of crime at the heart of the system
- finding new and improved ways of cutting crime, reducing re-offending and protecting the public
- creating a criminal justice system that is more straightforward and efficient
Our strategic plan for 2008-11 (new window) is designed to build on our achievements, and provides a blueprint for the future of the justice in the UK.
Learn more about Home Office reform plans
You can download copies of all of our reform plans:
