The following is an extract from the Home Office guidelines on PSA targets:

“The performance of local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships/Community Safety Partnerships is at the heart of the Government’s improvement agenda. Partnerships have a crucial role in supporting delivery of the Home Office crime reduction and drug strategy agendas.  Focused partnership work has the potential to address both local and national priorities around crime, disorder and substance misuse and the new crime and disorder reduction strategies should reflect this.

Following the publication of the Government’s 2004 spending review and the Home Office’s new five year Strategic Plan, the Home Office will have seven new Public Service Agreement targets (PSAs) for the period 2004/05 to 2007/08. It is through them that we will deliver the objectives set out in the Home Office Strategic Plan and achieve our aim of building a safe, just and tolerant society. Meeting these objectives depends on effective and successful delivery from frontline partners and services working towards shared national priorities at the same time as meeting local needs.

Partnership activities will influence and support delivery of all the Home Office PSAs, but their work will be especially influential in the delivery of:

• PSA1 (to reduce crime by 15%, and more in high crime areas, by 2007/08).
• PSA2 (to reassure the public, reduce the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour, and build confidence in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) without compromising fairness).
• PSA3 (to bring 1.25 million offences to justice in 2007/08)
• PSA4 (reduce the harm caused by illegal drugs including substantially increasing the number of drug misusing offenders entering treatment through the CJS).
• PSA6 (increase voluntary and community engagement, especially amongst those at risk of social exclusion).

Partnerships will be expected to set challenging local targets to reduce crime, disorder and substance misuse in their communities in order to support the delivery of these targets.  Government Offices will help to support partnerships to achieve the required outcomes.”

The PSA 1 headline target to reduce crime is weighted to reflect the comparative importance of Local Authorities in the national picture.  Birmingham, as one of the areas in the top quartile nationally, has been set at 20% PSA 1 reduction compared to the national target of 15%. PSA 1 crime is split into a number of different crime types for which a partnership must define and agree individual targets that combine to achieve the overall PSA 1 crime reduction target.

The table below shows the individual targets that Birmingham Community Safety Partnership has agreed in order to achieve the PSA 1 reduction target of 20%.

PSA 1 (BCS Comparator Crime) Target Breakdown

Baseline period = 2003/04 (April 1st 2004 to March 31st 2004).

Target Period = 2007/08 (April 1st 2007 to March 31st 2008).

Target = -20%

The Birmingham Community Safety Partnership Strategy 2005-2008 also includes locally agreed PSA targets including a LPSA for fire reduction.

For more information on Birminmgham's LPSAs, click the link below:

BCSP LPSAs