CASH FOR CRIME, DRUGS AND ASYLUM BACKLOG

o 1.6bn Pounds to Beat Car Theft And Burglary

o 'Vigorous' Enforcement of Entry Refusals

The Home Office gets money to tackle crime and drug abuse. But hidden
in the detail are plans to return at least 30,000 failed asylum seekers
every year by "enforcing refusals of asylum more vigorously".

The immigration service is to receive an extra 400m pounds for each of
the next three years to deal with the crisis backlog of nearly 100,000
cases and to get decision times down from 18 to six months.

However, the extra money - far more than was expected to be saved by
scrapping welfare benefits for asylum seekers - comes with the
Treasury's expectation that the annual removals of "those with
unfounded claims" will rise from the 7,650 who left last year to "at
least 30,000 a year".

The Home Office already plans to build three more immigration
detention centres, and the places available to hold failed asylum
seekers pending deportation are to increase in two stages from 900
places to 2,700, and then to a capacity of 4,000 secure spaces.

Overall the increase in the Home Office budget from 8.1bn this
year to 10.6bn in 2003-04 represents a real terms increase of
6.4% a year. Most of the extra money, 1.6bn, will go into the
police to give them a 3.8% annual funding increase to help meet
targets to reduce car crime and burglary. In the light of the latest
violent crime figures, they are to get a new target to reduce robbery
in "our principal cities" by 14% by 2005.

The extra money will also buy computers to analyse crime data and
share it with health, education and social services. Each police force
is to be set a target detailing the improvements it has to make to
match performance of the best forces. The best-performing local police
divisions are to share in 5m reward fund.

The number of extra officers to be recruited is to be announced
today.

At least 160m a year for each of three years is to be spent on
crime reduction to help meet targets of cutting car crime by 30% by
2004, burglary by 25% by 2005, and the robbery target.

The Treasury documents also promise the long awaited "national strategy
on alcohol misuse" will be published. A national treatment agency is to
be set up to give help to the 200,000 problem drug addicts, funded by
the Home Office and the Department of Health. Money on drug treatment
will rise from 234m to 401m in three years' time. There is also to be
extra money for child, adolescent and adult mental health services.

While police and the anti-drugs initiatives are well funded, the
Treasury expects the prison and probation services to find 3% a year
"efficiency savings" from their budgets. Extra will be available to
increase the 70,000 capacity of the prisons, and help is to be given
the prisons with literacy and numeracy classes for inmates.

The effectiveness of community punishment is to be increased on a
"what works" principle, with targets set for reducing the rate of
reconvictions of those sentenced to probation, community service and
other orders.

The cross-departmental review on crime reduction has also produced
targets to reduce school truancy and exclusions, and for literacy of
school children. A target is set to tackle the crime rate for children
in care, three times higher than the child average.

Ministers have decided that, once they have achieved the 1997 election
pledge of cutting the time to get a young offender to court from
arrest from an average of 142 days to 71, they will try to "maintain
the level thereafter". But a target will be set by March next year to
cut the time it takes to get all defendants to court.

The courts and police are also to be asked to improve by 5% within two
years the satisfaction levels of victims and witnesses with their
treatment, and to increase the proportion of recorded crime for which
an offender is brought to justice.

Targets

o Remove 30,000 asylum seekers each year.

o Reduce robbery by 14% in principal cities by 2005.

o Increase detection rates for recorded crime.

o Cut reconviction rates by 5% by 2004.