20/07/2006

Reform programme set to make radical changes to the Home Office

Home Secretary John Reid has announced a wide-ranging reform programme designed to fundamentally change the Home Office.

The radical reform plan will transform the Home Office, saving as much as £115m per year by 2010, reducing the size of the Home Office's headquarters through an unprecedented move of staff from the centre out into communities, and following through with extensive changes and increased accountability at all levels.

Home Secretary John Reid said the ambitious plan would ensure that the department is better able to deliver quality services to the public. "This will not be an easy task," he warned. "This is the start of a long-term programme of reform that will require consistency, commitment and endurance."

In the reform action plan, 'From Improvement to Transformation', the Home Secretary sets out his vision of a transformed Home Office fully equipped to deal with the challenges now facing the nation.

One of the major items included in the reform plan affect the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, which has faced growing criticism for failing to deal with the country's complex immigration issues. In order to help the IND improve its effectiveness, it will become a shadow agency by 2007.

(CD)

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