The criminal justice system (CJS) is undergoing significant reform and change. New partnership arrangements - local criminal justice boards (LCJBs) - have been established to join up local criminal justice agencies and create a system where they work together to achieve common aims and objectives. These new boards are potentially powerful tools that can tackle difficult strategic and operational problems within the local CJS. They can also be a productive way of achieving more efficient and effective use of resources.
LCJBs are very new and it is too early to assess how effective they are. However, the Audit Commission has assisted other partnerships and agencies in the public sector involved in similar changes in recent years, and has a track record of work in the CJS. We believe that, by sharing learning and experience with the new boards at an early stage in their development, we can help LCJBs to manage more effectively the change they are involved in.
The primary audience for the paper is members of the LCJBs, their governing bodies (for example, police authorities) and staff. The paper also aims to inform the debate among key stakeholders (such as government and criminal justice inspectorates) about the management of change within the local CJS. In addition the paper will be of interest to a wider group of stakeholders, including local authorities, crime and disorder reduction partnerships, local strategic partnerships, the NHS, and voluntary organisations, all of which need to know about the new arrangements.
Included in this report:
- background to the establishment of the LCJBs
- addressing the challenges - engagement
- addressing the challenges - governance
- addressing the challenges - performance