Audits & Audits & Strategies Toolkit
Why must I do audits and produce strategies?
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Why must I do audits and produce strategies?
This part of the toolkit explains why you must do audits and produce strategies. It covers:
carrying out a drugs audit (review) and the National Drug Strategy Performance Management Framework
where you can get more information about audits and strategies
Statutory requirements
Partnerships are required by law to carry out audits and produce strategies. For the first time, new legislation means that joint crime and drugs audits must be produced.
Sections 5 and 6 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, as amended by the Police Reform Act 2002, require specific agencies, known as responsible authorities, to work together, and with other agencies within the community, to tackle crime and disorder and misuse of drugs (substance abuse in Wales) in their local areas.
Responsible authorities are required to work in partnership to carry out audits every 3 years to:
identify the extent of these problems in their community
develop strategies to deal effectively with these problems
In Wales, responsible authorities should take into account any guidance issued by the National Assembly for Wales in respect of their duties under the Act.
The Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan (October 2003) sets out why it is so important to tackle anti-social behaviour and change the culture that lets it go unchallenged. As part of the drive to deal with anti-social behaviour, partnerships are required to:
audit the extent of anti-social behaviour in their area
include priorities to address anti-social behaviour in their strategies
Purpose of the audit and strategy process
The purpose of the audit and strategy process is to make sure that responsible authorities:
are aware of the nature of crime and disorder, anti-social behaviour and the misuse of drugs (substance abuse in Wales) in their area
are able to identify ways to develop and implement effective action to reduce these problems and deploy resources accordingly
develop and publish a strategy that responds to the needs of local communities and sets out the findings of the audit with actions to address priority areas and targets
carry out annual planning activity informed by a clear picture of where funds need to be allocated
Carrying out an audit and producing a strategy is not just about fulfilling a statutory requirement. Being aware of the extent of crime and disorder, anti-social behaviour and the misuse of drugs (substance abuse in Wales) locally is a continuous process and your strategy is a living, working document.
Carrying out an audit and producing a strategy gives you the opportunity to:
engage with local communities
review activity and performance
plan for change
make sure that the priorities you identified are put into the broader context of community plans and strategies
Increasing community engagement in crime reduction, community safety and drugs initiatives :
provides valuable information and resources
reflects the goal of helping people to take greater control of their lives and environments - it's about community empowerment
People rarely experience single-issue problems - problems are genuinely 'cross-cutting' in scope and solution. Partnerships must:
work closely with other local partnerships such as Local Criminal Justice Boards, Youth Offending Teams and Local Strategic Partnerships on cross-cutting issues
identify joint approaches and strategies for tackling these issues
make sure that resources are identified and used appropriately
understand the relationship between deprivation and crime and drugs problems in order to target their activities to tackle these issues
Example:
Victims and witnesses have individual expectations of the authorities to deal with incidents of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour. Partnerships must be aware of, and link with, the work of Local Criminal Justice Boards to help build confidence among victims and witnesses that the Criminal Justice System will respond appropriately to these incidents.
Local Drug Action Teams should have a thorough understanding of the extent of misuse of drugs and the needs of their areas. They have gained this understanding through their normal business planning and review processes. The new legislation means that this work will be known as an audit. It should build on :
needs analysis work
the experience of local partners
national guidance
good practice
commissioning standards that can contribute to information collection
For more information about how the audit and strategy process links to the National Drug Strategy and the Performance Management Framework and potential drugs data sources go to the "What should my audit look like?" section of this toolkit
Balancing local and national priorities
You should use the information from your audit and consultation phase to:
inform decision making in relation to the development of your strategy
set priorities for action within your strategy
help determine objectives with long and short term performance targets
Your audit will identify:
priority crimes, areas or themes, such as incidents of anti-social behaviour or the extent of drug misuse
priority groups such as young people or victims of domestic violence
Your audit will be a key tool for setting strategic targets. However, on drugs misuse, strategic targets should be agreed with Government Offices against the Performance Management Framework for the National Drugs Strategy. The Government also expects local authorities and their partners to:
help deliver the Government's key national priorities
take account of Government priorities when carrying out audits and developing strategies
These critical priorities are set out as Home Office Public Service Agreement Targets and in plans such as the National Policing Plan 2004-7. Priorities include:
Tackling anti-social behaviour
Reducing burglary
Reducing vehicle crime
Reducing robbery
Reducing drug-related crime
Where an audit identifies high incidence of these problems, the Government expects partnerships to set relevant targets in their strategies and agreed these with the Government Office for their region or the Welsh Assembly Government.
For more information about target setting go to the What should my strategy look like? part of this toolkit.
Drugs audit (review) and the National Drug Strategy Performance Management Framework
The National Drug Strategy has a new Performance Management Resource Pack, which embeds key performance indicators for the 4 themes of the National Drug Strategy into the performance management frameworks of relevant government departments.
The Home Office will collect key performance indicator data from other government departments and fed back to the Home Office teams in the Government Offices for the Regions, who will negotiate targets and milestones with partnerships against these indicators and local priorities.
Much of this guidance aims to help partnerships complete a crime audit and some of it will be useful to both crime and drugs audits. However, there are some differences:
The Performance Management Framework (PMF) for the National Drug Strategy has been developed taking into account the requirements of the new statutory framework including audit, producing three-year strategies and annual reporting.
The requirements of the new statutory framework are in line with the PMF for the National Drug Strategy that reduces the burden of reporting and prescriptive planning previously placed on local partnerships.
Example:
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data will be collected by the Drug Strategy Directorate in the Home Office from appropriate government departments. These data will be delivered to Government Office staff by local partnership area each quarter. As far as possible, local partnerships will not have to collect KPI data. Local partnerships will negotiate local targets and milestones against the PMF KPIs and local priorities with Government Office. It is progress against these agreed targets and milestones that will be the basis of the annual report. Remember - data and progress against the KPIs is collected at government level and not at partnership level.
Effective planning is essential at local level and partnerships will need much more detailed information for themselves and their local stakeholders.
This part of the toolkit and specifically the drug annex is provided for local partnerships that require more in-depth guidance to assist them. Some partnerships will already have extensive information gathering systems and will not need this support and others may still be considering what information they need at a local level. It is not intended to replace existing local practices, needs analysis or market mapping or be prescriptive about how an audit (review) should be completed. It aims to give partnerships the tools to help them develop their audits and strategies and should be used in full or part as seen fit.
Drugs and crime agendas are becoming increasingly integrated at local, regional and national level. During this transitional period the crime reduction and drugs strategy performance management frameworks must reinforce delivery of both agendas.
Where the toolkit does not apply to the misuse of drugs, references to the Performance Management Resource Pack (PMRP) for the National Drugs Strategy are set out clearly. This applies in particular to the following sections:
The process for setting targets and milestones against KPIs and local priorities on drugs is already an agreed key part of the Performance Management Framework (PMF) for the National Drugs Strategy. You should use this framework to agree targets and monitor processes. The PMF also includes detailed guidance on developing local plans and a checklist for what the local planning process should address.
More information about audits and strategies
You can find more information about audits and strategies from:
Performance Management Resource Pack (drugs) (December 2003)
CSV Edith Kahn Memorial Lecture "Civil Renewal: A New Agenda" (11 June 2003)
Home Office Self-Assessment Framework for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Drug Action Teams (December 2003)
A new deal for victims and witnesses - a national strategy to deliver improved services (July 2003)
"Together: Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour" The Government's Action Plan
Last update: Tuesday, July 22, 2008