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Departments: Reviews

Volume 461: debated on Monday 18 June 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 17 April 2007, Official Report, columns 599-600W, how many Home Office reviews have been instigated or agreed to by Ministers since 5 May 2006; what the subject matter was of each review; and what the outcome was of each review. (134214)

As soon as I became Home Secretary, I undertook three major reviews of (a) the Home Office as a whole; (b) the immigration and asylum system; and (c) the criminal justice system. The outcomes of each of these reviews was published in July 2006. In addition, the Prime Minister asked me to instigate a review of counter terrorism, but there is a limit to what I can report on the results of this review due to national security considerations. Finally, I have recently instigated a review of policing, led by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Ronnie Flanagan. My drive to improve delivery in the Home Office’s objectives means that a wide range of other reviews of policy and operational issues have been undertaken and continue to be undertaken (such as a review of deportation of foreign national prisoners and Sir Ian Magee’s review of the criminal records of offences committed abroad by UK nationals). To identify every one could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.