asked Her Majesty's Government:

When they plan to publish the technical note for their public service agreement (PSA) target to improve public confidence in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and when they will publish the technical note for the CJS PSA target to improve value for money.

Technical notes, for the remaining shared criminal justice system public service agreement (CJS PSA) targets for the 2002 spending review period, have been published today. Copies are available in the Library and online at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/inside/aims/index.html.

In common with those for other targets, the technical notes define the terms used in the PSA targets, their territorial scope, measurement systems which will be used, and criteria for success. The purpose of the technical notes is to enable Parliament, and the public, to judge progress against the PSA targets. The measurement systems will be used by the three CJS departments to manage delivery of the new, challenging targets.

The majority of the CJS technical notes were presented to Parliament, as part of the Home Office technical notes, on 25 March 2003. The remaining technical notes, published today, relate to the targets to improve public confidence in the CJS, and to increase value for money in the CJS. For convenience, the Home Office technical notes document has been republished to incorporate the revised public confidence technical note. The CJS value for money technical note has been published as a separate document.

The criminal justice system PSA targets were presented to Parliament on 15 July 2002 as part of the Command Paper 2002 Spending Review: Public Service Agreements (Cm 5571).